The dream of a NZ$500m (US$435m, €321m, £254m) lifestyle resort
development in Otago, New Zealand, is over, after a local council withdrew its
approval for the venture which has been in the works for six years.

Slated to be one of Central Otago’s biggest developments at McArthur Ridge, 6km (4 miles) north of the town of Alexandra, the project was to include a five-star hotel, a 200-hectare Pinot Noir vineyard and up to 1,376 residential units. Leisure facilities were to include a golf course, cheesery, equestrian centre and a health spa.

The McArthur Ridge resort development had fallen victim to the global financial crisis of 2008 and subsequent property slump.

The Canterbury Mortgage Trust, mortgagee for two companies which own about 77 per cent of the land within the area – Central Otago Pinot Noir Estates and Thyme Field – told The Southland Times that the trust wanted to cut ties with the development and the land should be returned to a rural resource area that will be a cheaper project for the council.

The current zoning was described by the Trust as preventing alternative uses of the site such as rural residential purposes.

The McArthur Ridge Investment Group Ltd (MRIGL), formerly known as Melview McArthur Ridge, owns the remaining 23 per cent of the area but the company is insolvent, according to The Otago Daily Times.

Consultant for MRIGL, Warwick Goldsmith, insisted a “slimmed down” version of the project was still feasible, including a nine-hole golf course, hotel and golf clubhouse. Goldsmith told the Central Otago District Council that the interested party was from a “very large Chinese company”.

MRIGL has 30 days to appeal the decision via the Environment Court.