NZ: Gibbston Valley Resort has been put on hold
Covid has stymied part of a planned housing development included in the $750 million, 400ha Gibbston Valley Resort.
Gibbston Valley Winery chief executive Greg Hunt said the developers made the “practical” and “pragmatic” decision to cancel the contracts on the 28 properties in The Vines residential housing development about a month ago.
Hunt said sales went “exceptionally well” when the sections hit the market just before Christmas in 2020.
One was bought by former Black Caps captain Brendon McCullum, while rugby identity Glen Jackson put his name on a two-bedroom home while in a quarantine hotel — so contracts were entered early, “then Covid hit”.
“Who could have ever predicted [what would happen]?” Hunt said.
“We costed everything pre-Covid … It just meant that over time, costs just kept rising.
“I held out as long as I could, but then we had a couple of cost increases which came through about six weeks ago and it just put it, really, to the point where we couldn’t get funding.
