Wānaka (originally named Pembroke) began with a hotel (1868) and a handful of other businesses and residences, on the foreshore of Lake Wānaka in the 1870s. And while Wānaka’s town centre will always be associated with the ‘village’ perched at the edge of Roys Bay, the village now has a rambunctious sibling: Three Parks.

This feature story, part one of two, explores the Three Parks backstory.

Three Parks sits on 140ha of what was the Skeggs’ deer farm on the southeastern edge of town. Wānaka based company Willowridge Developments Ltd, owned by Allan Dippie, was already well-established with the Meadowstone residential development (started in 1993) when it purchased the deer farm.

“The company had by then identified a large southern corridor from Mount Iron to Cardrona Road as being key to Wānaka’s future,” Allan said.

In the 1990s Wānaka’s population significantly increased and the town began experiencing “some growing pains”, he said.

In response, Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) commissioned a series of community workshops, led by international town planners and design experts, in 2002.

Wānaka 2020

Known as Wānaka 20/20, the purpose was for Wānaka locals to participate in shaping how Wānaka might develop over the following 20 years.

“Participation from all sectors of the community was high and there was much community input; the whole process was pretty successful in terms of community driven outcomes,” Allan said.

Two key outcomes were revealed by Wānaka 20/20: firstly there should be a town boundary defining planned development, and secondly the town centre’s village vibe that locals loved should be protected.

Three Parks New World under construction in June 2019 appears to dwarf the Wānaka Recreation Centre behind it.

It was generally agreed the town should predominantly grow to the south, away from the lake, and development should be planned within the new boundary, Allan said.

“The community decided it needed to identify an area to accommodate the types of activities that would not fit in, or be undesirable to locate, within the existing town centre and this is how Three Parks came about.”

Three ‘R’s of Three Parks

Willowridge worked closely with QLDC to develop plan change 16 (the Three Parks plan change) to help give effect to the findings of the Wānaka 20/20 community workshops.

Plan change 16’s working title was “Three Parks” which referred to the intention to create three distinct elements of urban development: recreational, retail and residential. 

“It [Three Parks] was not meant to be the permanent name for the area but somehow as the plan change slowly progressed the name just stuck, people got used to it, and we never changed it,” Allan said.

While Three Parks was inspired by Wānaka 20/20’s community consultation, not all of the community was onboard with the proposal.

Opposition to elements of the plan included voices from the former Wānaka Residents’ Association, which claimed Wānaka neither wanted nor needed ‘big box stores’, and the developers of Mt Cardrona Station who took the matter to the Environment Court. 

Allan Dippie was the first to drive around the new roundabout at the SH84/Sir Tim Wallis Drive entrance to Three Parks.

One Ballantyne Road based company objected to where Sir Tim Wallis Drive intersected with Ballantyne Road, which was resolved by creating “that cute little kink” at the end of Sir Tim Wallis Drive, Allan said.

“Some of that opposition was priceless and a lot of fun. We enjoyed the battle and didn’t take anyone too seriously and eventually won the war.”

Three Parks was “made operative” in 2011 but by then the economic downturn, initiated by the 2008/09 global financial banking crisis, increased the risks of investment in such largescale developments.

“We decided to plough on regardless, but I do remember wondering each month how to pay for the pipes and the concrete, the wages and the diesel, but slowly things got better,” Allan said.

“What buoyed us along was the great support we had from the community who could really see the need for good planning and progress and saw the potential in Three Parks.”

First developments

The first completed development in Three Parks was QLDC’s Wānaka Recreation Centre (2017), with the bulk of the land donated by Willowridge. It included the multi-purpose indoor courts, swimming pools, sports fields, a small all-weather training ground, and car parking.

Retail development followed soon after with the opening of the Three Parks New World (2019) and Mega Mitre 10 (2020) and the relocated BP Connect service station (2020).

The appeal of such a large greenfields (undeveloped) site also attracted the attention of the Ministry of Education and by 2020 Wānaka’s newest primary school, Te Kura o Take Kārara, was opened.

And the third ‘R’ - residential - is also underway with ground works for a Metlifecare retirement village well advanced.

Three Parks’ primary school Te Kura o Take Kārara was deliberately located beside the Wānaka Recreation Centre.

In the past five years over 20 retail businesses have opened their doors at Three Parks as well as many offices and showrooms.

It is now more than two decades since the 20/20 community workshops were completed. 

Allan questions if Three Parks “is the vision the community had for Wānaka back then…and are we on the right track?”

“I suspect there will be varying opinions about that but we are very lucky to have a vibrant growing community in which to live…,” he said.

Part two to follow: What’s next at Three Parks?

PHOTOS: Wānaka App