Hills tourism project brings luxury to The Lane
Regional
Plans for a $10 million luxury villa development overlooking The Lane Vineyard near Hahndorf, South Australia have been lodged by the developers behind the $50 million Oscar Seppeltsfield hotel in the Barossa.
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The development will include 20 villas, a lodge and wellness centre overlooking The Lane’s Adelaide Hills vineyards and cellar door, which is about 3km north-east of the Hahndorf township.
The Luxury Lodge Group, the South Australian developer also behind the $50 million Oscar Seppeltsfield project, say the Adelaide Hills plans were lodged with Mount Barker Council this week.
Project spokesperson and Director of Hotellerie consultancy Sonia Lefevre said the Hahndorf villas would be well spaced on sloping land to provide privacy and views across the vineyard.
She said it was hoped construction would begin in the second half of this year ahead of a September 2023 launch.
An artist’s render of one of the villas at The Lane Luxury Lodge.
“We’ve been designing this for about three years now and as COVID hit we re-looked at everything we were proposing to make sure it was relevant for the future and sustainable from a tourism perspective,” Lefevre said.
“It’s a lovely large piece of land directly next to The Lane vineyards which sits on quite a slope and that means each of the villas had to be carefully designed and provided absolute privacy for the guests staying in them.”
“We looked at lodges globally and for us it was drawing on how we can make this as unique and different as possible, because travellers are far more sophisticated these days so we wanted to future-proof what we were offering.”
The group is proposing 13 one-bedroom villas and seven two-bedroom villas and a main lodge featuring a wellness centre, library, wine cellar and a space for guests to have intimate gatherings away from the villas.
The Lane’s cellar door and restaurant offers sweeping views across its vineyards.
The villas will be located about a five-minute walk from The Lane’s restaurant and cellar door in the south-west corner of the site.
The project group involves many of the same people behind the $50 million Oscar Seppeltsfield hotel and day spa in the Barossa.
The 12-storey hotel, announced in April 2020 is “progressing” despite some community opposition.
Lefevre said The Lane Luxury Lodge development was in response to a glaring need for more luxury accommodation in the area and an opportunity to capitalise on the emerging wellness travel segment.
“The Adelaide Hills is such a beautiful day-tripper destination but it’s really looking for some unique, luxury accommodation that has tourism drivers so it can support year-round business and not just peak weekends,” she said.
“We believe that the wellness traveller is a new area, one that will continue to grow and develop and one that we think this lodge will be attractive to.
“Given the small nature and secluded way in which we’ve designed the villas it really does also lend itself to small parties looking for an exclusive wedding or special event destination.”
The group’s design for its proposed Oscar Seppeltsfield hotel in the Barossa has attracted a lot of interest.
The group estimates the Adelaide Hills development will provide 50 construction jobs and at least 30 ongoing jobs for the region once operational.
The designs have been completed by Intro Architecture with director Damien Ellis saying sustainability is a key driver of the project.
The Lane Vineyard CEO Jared Stringer said the accommodation offering would add to the cellar door’s “breathtaking estate views, award-winning wines and world-class restaurant”.
“We could think of nothing better to complement our bespoke offering than providing our guests the ultimate in luxury accommodation, right here, in the heart of our Hahndorf estate,” he said.
South Australian Tourism Commission chief executive Rodney Harrex said the plan helped address the need for more accommodation in the Hills to entice day-trippers to stay longer.
“The plans to include wellness experiences are perfectly placed to leverage the Adelaide Hills’ position as ‘the wellness destination of South Australia’ – and a sector that is currently worth $12 billion in Australia and is set to grow more than 20 per cent by 2025,” he said.
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