Queenstown businesses focus on Frankton

Media Release
August 22 2003

Business focus moves to Frankton area

Queenstown businesses looking to future growth in the district are increasingly focusing on the 400 hectares comprising the Frankton, Remarkables Park and Shotover area.

This location is expanding to include retail, light industrial, community and recreational facilities, residential and visitor accommodation, and possible education developments.

A 10-day urban design study of approximately 50 ha of undeveloped land in the northern sector of the 400 hectares will be held from Monday next week to propose a complementary development plan for the area.

The undeveloped land is principally owned by three landowners - the Queenstown Airport Corporation, Shotover Park Ltd and developer Dave Henderson.

The study was today (Friday Aug 22) welcomed by Commerce Queenstown chief executive Nick Lambert who said it was the district's "one chance" to get it right.

"This is the perfect opportunity to look at the wider picture of what Queenstown and Frankton need and want," he said.

"Downtown commercial has been expanding in recent years and there is already a successful and growing retail centre at Remarkables Park.

"Civic facilities are centred around the Events Centre with its oval improvements, playing fields and potential future swimming pool. The Shotover Park light industrial area is also growing rapidly to cater for bulk retail and building services.

"The tertiary institution and supporting residential proposed by developer Dave Henderson can only complement what's already happening in the area."

"The facility would be very much welcomed as the provision of education for employers and employees has been identified as one of the major barriers to attracting and retaining good people in the workforce."

Mr Lambert said it was important to get the balance of retailers and services right not only in Frankton but taking into account existing services offered in central Queenstown and Arrowtown.

"Up until recently, Queenstown has predominantly been reliant on tourism and tourism related industry for economic growth and prosperity. "That has changed in the last few years as we've seen other micro industries starting to grow such as viticulture, the building industry and the film industry, and that only supports the well-being of the local economic climate."

H & J Smith managing director Acton Smith announced today that the company's Mitre 10 store at Remarkables Park Shopping Centre will be moving to a new site at Shotover Park.

The new 'big box' retail store, at 8000 sq metres, will be four times the size of the current store. The new store is scheduled to open within the next 12 months.

Mr Smith said Shotover Park's planned northern extension of its light industrial park was the "perfect" location for bulk retailers and building services to work alongside one another.

"Other key players in the building and building services industry are also moving to the area because they can see the advantages in being together in one place.

"Mitre 10 needed to expand and the significant increase demonstrates our confidence in the business growth of Queenstown. I've been amazed at the public support we've had for the current Mitre 10, to the extent that we've outgrown the present site within three years of opening."

Meanwhile the H & J Smith store currently in The Mall in central Queenstown will now develop a new, much larger department store at Remarkables Park on the site of the existing Mitre 10 store. New plans will be developed for that next year.

This will be adjacent to the existing New World supermarket which is currently expanding its premises by 30% to cater for current and future demand as part of the planned expansion of the Remarkables Park Shopping Centre.

Alastair Porter, co-managing director of the Porter Group, principal owners of Shotover Park Ltd and Remarkables Park Limited, confirmed that one of the region's largest companies, Northern Southland Transport Ltd, had also recently bought a substantial site to meet their business requirements in Shotover Park's northern expansion area.

As part of next week's design workshop to assist with integrating uses, Mr Porter said he would be happy to provide specific details of Shotover Park's planned expansion now encompassed by the study area.

"I am hopeful that quality, complementary land uses will result from the study benefiting the wider Queenstown community."

For further media information please contact Fiona Woodham of Woodham & Forbes PR

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