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February, 2022 Skyline Queenstowns pressing ahead with one of the largest tourismdevelopments the resorts ever seen. The cost of its Bobs Peak redevelopment, including a new gondola cableway, replacement top and bottom terminals, forestry clearance, carpark building and, ultimately, new restaurant facility and viewing deck, could fetch a giddy $220 million. Though constructions yet to start, significant prep works underway, including a tree removal programme to provide a 10-metre clearance line, to mitigate fire risk, either side of the new cableway. Skyline Enterprises chief executive Geoff McDonald says it will end up looking a lot more concentric than it does at present. Foundation work for the new cableway is also underway. Distinctive on Bobs Peaks lower flanks is a huge rock cut to enable construction of the 395-space carpark. A total of 109 of those parks are for Skyline staff and the remainder for Ben Lomond reserve users, as required by the resource consent. We have restrictions on the height, so the only way we could fit it in was to carve out into the rock face to create a platform for it, McDonald says. This includes rock-bolting various bluffs geologists consider might be a risk some materials have been ferried in by chopper. Construction of the three-level building starts in about two months. A larger bottom terminal partly to house the bigger gondola cabins will be built around, then take over from, the existing facility. Coming soon: An artists impression of the redeveloped bottom terminal Pre-Christmas, work was also undertaken behind the top terminal which involved temporarily closing and rerouting a luge track to create space for its replacement. Meantime, the gondola will shut for up to 10 weeks after Easter next year while a new cableway, alongside the current one, is installed to cater for up to 36 high-speed, 10-seater cabins. The last part of the redevelopment is replacing the upper restaurant, involving, initially, an extension right beside it. McDonald says theyll go ahead in spite of the uncertainty around the return of international tourism, to mitigate against even higher building costs. Theres a couple of different ways we can do the complex & on the current plan, its probably going to be 2026. At around $220m, the total costs about as steep as the hill its on, but McDonald says the whole facility dating back to the late 80s was due to be replaced. As if Skyline Queenstowns plates not full enough, its also spent $30m- plus on redeveloping the CBDs OConnells building. With the base build virtually complete, its being handed over to DFS Group for a major fit-out for its new-concept Resort Galleria, the opening of which has been pushed back to October. Skylines also leasing out about eight food hall tenancies on the ground floor, with a central European-style bar/cafe area, all of which is also due to open in October. Source: Mountain Scene
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