Turning point

By ANNE GIBSON

Ngati Whatua have become joint venture business partners in a $50 million retirement development, Eastcliffe on Orakei, on the hallowed ground of Bastion Pt (also known as Takaparawha).

If it sounds like sacrilege to build on whenua rangatira, think again. The million-dollar income stream from the development is planned to bring substantial benefits to Ngati Whatua.

No other retirement village has such affluence at its back door: the wealthy blue-rinse set from St Heliers, Mission Bay, Kohimarama and Remuera are the development's targets.

The tribe has joined forces with Auckland-headquartered Protac Investments, a subsidiary of a Tainui-affiliated company, Taharoa C Inc, worth $40 million.

Taharoa C's shareholders are Ngati Mahuta, part of the Tainui waka but not linked with the financially troubled Tainui Trust Board.

Protac is a specialist property investor and developer, set up from the lucrative income of Taharoa four years ago. Last year Protac bought Carlton Party Hire, New Zealand's largest events equipment supplier. It has built a block of apartments on Australia's Gold Coast as well as a 30-house Auckland subdivision on East Coast Rd in Mairangi Bay.

Protac and Ngati Whatua are developing the retirement village on 1.75ha of the 40ha of prime land, on a site towards the back slopes of Bastion Pt.

One fifth of the point can be developed commercially, according to the Orakei Act 1991. So this slice on the Te Arawa St side has been earmarked for the retirement village, even though nearby residents have complained bitterly.

Ngati Whatua O Orakei Maori Trust Board and Protac are already well on the way towards finishing the first block of the village, with the crane rising dinosaur-like from the backblocks of the point.

It would be a vast understatement to say that Eastcliffe on Orakei has a marketing edge. It is being promoted as "only parkland, which can never be developed, between you and the sea. No other facility will ever be able to enjoy the same breathtaking sea views or cityscapes."

The first building is a serviced apartment block or "extra care" nursing facility with 28 studio apartments and communal facilities.

The joint venture parties have applied to the Auckland City Council to build a further 80 units. These will comprise 60 units in six three-storey apartment buildings and 20 townhouses in three blocks. Of the 60 units, 28 will be one-bedroom, the rest two and four-bedroom.

Te Arawa St residents have been up in arms over the proposal. Most of the 41 submissions opposing the development were from this one street's residents.

However, 87 submissions were received in support of the development, including support from the two biggest landholders in the area, Housing New Zealand and Ngati Whatua.

But the tribe was not united in thinking the development was a good idea. Labour MP and Bastion Pt occupation leader Joe Hawke said some Ngati Whatua people "may have conflict with this [development]."

But, he said, they would all benefit in the long term.

In response to calls for tribal housing to be built on the site, Hawke said Ngati Whatua had bought 110 houses in nearby Kupe St for its people.

Hawke's grandmother, Te Mihiata Te Mamae, died during the relocations of Ngati Whatua from its Orakei land. Homes and buildings were pulled down and burnt by the Crown during the final eviction - a crusade prompted by the visit of the Queen in 1950 and the royal tour passing by Orakei.

"The victims of one of the worst cases of cultural genocide in this country," is how the Waitangi Tribunal's Orakei report referred to the tribe.

Protac's Anthony Wilson wants to put the past where it belongs. Tiwana Tibble, chief executive officer of the Ngati Whatua O Orakei Corporate, concurs. They both say the emphasis should be on the future.

The application to build the second stage of the retirement village is due to go before the council this month Planning regulations stipulate that a retirement village or homes for the aged are a discretionary activity. ACC resource consents planner Peter Rawson has recommended the second stage be approved, Wilson says.

Protac already has a list of 600 people who have inquired about buying apartments, he says.

A display home is open for inspection at 61 Te Arawa St. Units in the first stage are selling for between $167,000 and $295,000. However, the second, larger stage will bring upmarket apartments, selling for between $550,000 and $600,000.