Council spokesman Sam White said the council spent $2.2 million on Gilmore Lodge, a four-bedroom, four-bathroom, two-level property on the corner of Henry and Shotover Sts in December, 2021.
At the same time, it snapped up the neighbouring 80sq m property at 2B Shotover St — home to The Bead Shop for the past 19 years — for $1.77 million.
Mr White said the council purchased both properties for use by the Kā Huanui a Tāhuna Alliance, members of which were Waka Kotahi and the council, along with design and construction companies Beca, WSP, Downer New Zealand and Fulton Hogan.
Gilmore Lodge had been owned for many years by CCS Disability Action and used as a holiday home. The charity has subsequently purchased a replacement holiday home in Arrowtown’s Patton Pl.
Mr White said part of the site was needed for the construction of an intersection on the first stage of the arterial route.
“Use of the building itself since then has not been practical due to the on-site and adjacent construction work which has also restricted access to the lodge,” he said.
“Council has an option to use the site as either a residential tenancy or development as part of the [Project] Manawa site once the intersection has been completed.”
The Bead Shop owner Lee Eliott, however, is looking to sell her business of 23 years after being on a month-by-month lease ever since council bought the building, and ongoing uncertainty as to how long she will be able to stay there.
She initially set up shop at 66 Stanley St, in a portion of the former SBS Bank site which was not required, moving four years later to the Shotover St site.
After the property changed hands in 2021, she was informed by her new landlords, the council, that they were looking to demolish it — but she had never been told why, or given a definitive end date.
She suspected council bought the building because it was an “obstacle”.
Mr White, however said the council was proposing to use the site to access an interim carpark, until it was required for the main construction of Project Manawa, a proposed cultural and civic heart on Stanley St.
But she said she could not live with the uncertainty hanging over her head any more.
“I’ve put the word out there I will keep the shop going for as long as I possibly can in that spot, but if I can find somebody that just can’t bear the idea of it closing down completely, and has the energy to move it to a secure spot [I’ll sell].”
She said she had a tear in her eye writing an advertisement for the sale of the business.
“It’s been a long, hard road — sometimes I got so close to closing it up over the GFC years, 2010-12, it was really tough.
“It’s gone through so many metamorphosis, I suppose, and I’ve grown with it.”
Queenstown Playcentre, at 57 Stanley Street, is also earmarked for demolition to make way for Project Manawa.
Mr White said QLDC also owned “a couple” of apartments on Ballarat St which had been impacted by the construction of the arterial road.
“These could either be let as residential properties, or sold once the arterial project is complete.”