Rilean commences work on upmarket dealership at Remarkables Park

1/08/11

An upmarket car dealership will form the western entrance to Queenstown’s Remarkables Park Town Centre.

Work began just last week on a 765sq m showroom for Queenstown Motor Group – part of the long-established Dunedin-based Southern Motor Group.

The multi-million dollar building, by the Hawthorne Drive/Lucas Place/Riverside Road roundabout, is expected to be finished by Christmas and will carry popular 4WD brands Audi, Volkswagen and Subaru.

“We’re looking forward to making these brands available right here in Queenstown and to building our existing client base in the town,” Southern Motor Group managing director Ken Cummings says. 
 
Cummings and his brother Pat are directors of property company Kenton Investments, which bought the high-profile site off Remarkables Park developers, Alastair, John and Neville Porter, last year. 

“We’ve enjoyed a good working relationship with Remarkables Park Ltd, with two sets of brothers knocking together a deal that works for everyone,” Pat says. 

“This showroom has been some years in the making – we’ve been watching the market and looking for the right position and right time.” 

Southern Motor Group also operates Southern Motor Court and Southern Honda in Dunedin, as well as Southern Automobiles and Southland Honda in Invercargill. 

It opened a service centre in Frankton’s Glenda Drive two years ago. 

Pat expects the new showroom to employ 12-plus staff, “give or take seasonal highs and lows”. 

He adds he’s delighted with the design by local architect David Stringer. 

Stringer says the three individual roofs “reflect the tectonic movement in the landscape around here”. 

Building the showroom is long-established local company Rilean Construction, whose recent Queenstown projects include part of the Kawarau Falls development and The Mountaineer building. 

“It’s great to get our teeth into a high-profile new commercial building in this market,” director Steve McLean says. 

Alastair Porter believes “it’s a sign of the growth of Queenstown that we are starting to attract high-quality motor vehicle franchise dealers”. 

Porter adds that the showroom will “answer the question that people have had for many years – ‘why do you see the back of the [New World] supermarket when you arrive at Remarkables Park Town Centre?’ 
 

“The reason is that site was always a development site, and it will now provide a very attractive 
entrance.”

Mountain Scene - 28th July 2011

To see progress photos and read more about this job, click on the following link:

 Queenstown Motor Group - New Showroom & Service Facility