Tourist hotspot Queenstown-Lakes may be in the depths of a covid inflicted downturn, but that hasn’t stopped buyers lining up to invest in Millbrook Resort’s $50 million Mill Farm lifestyle development.
The Arrowtown resort has just released half of the 24 sections at its Grand Terrace development, situated on its neighbouring 67-hectares of farmland.
The sections — which range from 1,644-to-3,333 square metres — are expected to fetch from $2 million to more than $3.5 million.
Resort director of property and development Ben O’Malley said the sections will be sold by deadline tender, and had attracted a “high level of interest” from buyers keen on a "flight to quality."
Millbrook itself has remained hot property even through the covid lockdowns, during which about $50 million worth of new and re-sale properties changed hands.
The new Mill Farm development, which will feature a Scott Macpherson designed nine-hole course, was conceptualised six years ago with planning permission granted in late 2017.
A new Coronet Course
O’Malley said the developers, Signal Management Group, had about 60 people consistently working on the site for the last couple of years, “so it’s rewarding to see our long-term commitment to this finally come to fruition.”
The new course, due to open next spring, will be in addition to Millbrook’s three nine-hole courses already in place, marrying to the existing Coronet 9 to form the 18-hole Coronet Course.
Mill Farm will remain as operational farmland, O’Malley said, with interlinking paddocks that will help facilitate “efficient, low-impact and quiet land management and provide homeowners with all the benefits of a rural lifestyle environment.”
That has necessitated some tweaks to Millbrook’s famous design guidelines to reflect the high alpine location of the Grand Terrace with key features being darker recessive colours and all native planting, he said.
Further down the track, the resort is planning a staged release of another 18 sites on the farm’s Willow Glen development.
The deadline tender for the first tranche of the Grand Terrace closes on Oct. 29.
