Opening of Ramada Hotel at Remarkables Park marks intensive new phase of development activity

The opening of Queenstown’s new Ramada Hotel & Suites Remarkables Park yesterday (Wednesday 15 June) is the beginning of a new era for the master-planned Remarkables Park Town Centre.
 
“It’s very rewarding to see Queenstown’s first new hotel in many years open here at Remarkables Park, and it marks an intensive period of activity for us as we deliver the next phase of our development,” said Alastair Porter, Remarkables Park Limited’s Chief Executive.
 
“We welcome the new Ramada General Managers Pauline and Greg Ewen, and congratulate Robert Neil from Safari Group on developing a great property in the Ramada Hotel & Suites.”
 
In addition to the development of the 72-bed, four-star Ramada property and its nine retail shops and cafés, there are seven other projects currently underway at Remarkables Park.
 
These projects include:
·         the Ministry of Education Public Private Partnership for the region’s new High School, currently in its fourth month of construction, opening in January 2018 to replace Queenstown’s existing High School on Fryer Street

·         Remarkables House, a state-of-the-art office building comprising four floors with up to 19 business, retail and restaurant tenancies, opening in December 2016 and leasing now

·         stage two of a 25,000m² entertainment precinct opening from late June 2016 to house a series of activities including PowderPak indoor dryslope terrain park, SITE Trampoline, Jiu Jitsu, karate and gym, Chipmunks children’s playland and café, and golf simulators. These activities join the popular Game Over go karting and laser tag facility

·         development of a new mixed-use ‘Market Street’ which is anchored by the Ramada Hotel to the north and intended to be a destination precinct featuring boutique shopping, cafés, restaurants, hotels and offices. It will be anchored to the south by Remarkables Place, the location of the new future Queenstown Gondola to The Remarkables

·         work underway to repair a slip on the lower section of the popular Twin Rivers Queenstown Trail, before the third Air New Zealand Queenstown International Marathon on 19 November 2016

·         installation of a major new sewer main to the north east of the development which anticipates extensive future development

·         16 new residential Alta Apartments on Cherry Blossom Avenue scheduled to be ready for occupancy in July 2016

Remarkables Park’s 150-hectare (370 acre) master-planned resort and Town Centre development is Queenstown’s largest centre outside the CBD, and currently attracts around 3.5 million visitors each year to shop, work, study, play and live.
 
Alastair Porter said Remarkables Park’s master plan approach has meant the company can anticipate demand in advance of need.
 
“When we provided the New World site for Foodstuffs more than 15 years ago on the edge of a then rural deer paddock, we knew we raised more than a few local eyebrows, especially with our vision and commitment to create a twin town centre to complement the charm and attraction of Queenstown Bay.
 
“Our master plan vision has always been to provide a local, regional and visitor destination. In the next two years we will have a very strong focus on the development of tourism facilities and activities in conjunction with the expansion of Remarkables Park Town Centre, which will ultimately more than double its current size.”
 
Remarkables Park is also zoned to provide Queenstown’s largest greenfield hotel location with provision for multiple hotel developments both within the Town Centre, and at sites with views of the Kawarau River and Remarkables mountains.
 
Soon to start, Remarkables Park’s next developments include a second new multi-million dollar hotel of 98-beds which is an addition to the Wyndham Portfolio in New Zealand; construction will begin in March 2017 by Safari Group. Immediately adjacent to the hotel, work will commence at the same time on a separate building housing 55 residential apartments.
 
The Remarkables Park team is also currently working on a resource consent application for its 10km scenic gondola linking Queenstown’s Remarkables Park to Queenstown Park Station and The Remarkables ski field.
 
More accommodation developments are in the pipeline including more hotels, multi-storey apartment buildings, tall terrace house developments and mixed-use tertiary student accommodation.