No date yet for council's sought after Stanley St car park

by Kim Bowden - Jun 21, 2024

There is no timeline for when land on Stanley Street will be available for public parking.

Queenstown Lakes District councillors directed the chief executive in April to report back on options for making use of public land flagged for Project Manawa for parking in the medium term.

However, details on how much parking may become available and when remain unknown for now.

Some buildings have been demolished, others removed, as the council sets to re-invent the Stanley Street site.

A spokesperson for the council says "good progress" is being made at the site.

"The Playcentre building has been demolished, and the Arts Centre building split into two and transported to start a new life at Country Lane.

"The focus is now on demolishing the buildings’ annexes and remaining foundations, then fully clearing the site before creating a stabilised platform for the car park."

The spokesperson says timings, capacity and charges for the car park are still being worked through, while other details can be shared.

"At this stage, it’s likely the surface of the car park will remain unsealed with its general character similar to the one on the Ballarat Street site that’s currently being used as a laydown area for the arterial road project.be shared once we have a preferred solution," they say.

Earlier this week Crux reported that a new five-level parking building built by Skyline at the base of Ben Lomond in the upper CBD is awaiting final council sign off before opening.

Parking is at a premium after the removal of hundreds of spaces from the CBD, prompting a plea earlier this year from the Queenstown Business Chamber to the council for action.

Chamber chief executive Sharon Fifield said businesses were telling her the situation in the CBD had gone from "bad to progressively worse".

Project Manawa decision - what just happened?

Main image: Councillors have directed council chief executive Mike Theelen to report back on converting a block of soon-to-be-vacant land on Stanley Street in the Queenstown CBD into a car park.