Visionary buyer sought for Whangarei waterside site

One of the biggest single blocks of city-fringe land at Whangarei tempts a visionary buyer.

The 101ha block of bare flat seaside land on the outskirts of Whangarei’s central business district is mainly undeveloped except for some heavy industry plant and warehousing.

The large landholding is divided into 19 lots from the industrial sector of central Whangarei along a strip to the harbour.

The area has been used for port-related activities over recent decades.

But many businesses have now moved to deep-water facilities at Marsden Point south of Whangarei.

Named Port Nikau, the subdivision is being sold through an international tender by Bayleys.

Company principal David Bayley says the size and scale of the venture means a potential buyer will have a long-term view, with full development taking up to 20 or 30 years.

Some local property players have suggested it would attract the likes of Infratil and may suit development of an airfield.

Mr Bayley says the scale of the land block rivals three of Auckland’s biggest recent single suburban developments – Flat Bush south of the city and now renamed Ormiston, Hobsonville Point (the former airbase) west of the city and Albany Basin north of the city.

The Whangarei land is 5km from State Highway One and has a rail connection.

Whangarei District Council has agreed to a private plan change allowing mixed-used development.

Under the application, consent was sought to rezone the land from the existing Business 4 category to a mixed-use zone known as Port Nikau Environment.

The application was approved last year subject to a master plan for development of the site being lodged with the council.

The zones proposed include an urban living zone, a marine industry zone, a town centre zone with retail and food and beverage outlets and a waterfront living zone for residential dwellings.

Some of the buildings within the existing Port Nikau landholding are leased to industrial tenants on a wide variety of terms.

There are also three wharves used by casual recreational users and commercial fishing vessels.

Marsden City soon to start

Meanwhile, NAI Harcourts’ Peter Jennings is marketing stage one of a large, mixed-use development at Ruakaka south of Whangarei.

“We’ve got tremendous interest,” he says.

Plans include a shopping centre, commercial businesses, residential housing (high- and medium-density), education facilities and parks. Interest has also come from a hospital and hotel conference centre.

The development will be spread over 135ha of existing industrial estates.

“We have subdevelopers and contractors coming in with conditional offers to make all these things happen,” Mr Jennings says. Foodstuffs and McDonalds are among those he is talking to.

Infrastructure including roads, street lights and ultrafast internet is in and contracts out on various stages of land and buildings.

“It’s all done and ready to be built on. If everything goes well we would hope to see construction start within six months.”

The green light given to developer North Holdings by the Whangarei District Council and Environment Court will enable construction to get under way by October.

The council’s structure plan allows for the city centre to eventually have a core commercial area of around 35ha, including 60,000sq m of retail floor area and 82,000sq m of floor area for non-retail commercial uses.

Up to 2200 residential units are allowed for.

Stage one aims to develop 22,000sq m of retail development, 22,000sq m of commercial, 250 house lots and 150 apartments.

Residential housing plans include standalone houses, attached townhouses, terraced housing and apartments, mostly around a large neighbourhood park.

The remnants of another large subdivision near the beach at Ruakaka are also expected to be sold off soon by Crown Asset Management, which controls South Canterbury Finance subsidiary Galway Park.