Formosa Golf Course land to be transformed by development. Photo / Supplied
Formosa Golf Course land to be transformed by development. Photo / Supplied
Plans have been lodged for a vast 307.1ha land rezoning enabling thousands of new apartments and terraced houses to rise at Beachlands in Auckland’s southeast in a scheme by the NZ Super Fund, Māori and commercial interests.
Auckland Council has received the private plan change request from Beachlands South LimitedPartnership to rezone land from rural countryside living to business, residential, open space and future urban zones to enable the scheme, which might take 20 years to complete.
Planners Vijay Lala and Nick Roberts of Unio Environmental wrote the plan change application for 110 Jack Lachlan Dr and 620-770 Whitford-Maraetai Rd.
How the new Beachlands development might look from Winterman Rd. Photo / Supplied
Last year, he said around 3000 new apartments and terraced houses were planned in blocks up to four levels on part of the golf course.
Guardians of the NZ Super Fund and the Ngāi Tai Hapai Development Limited Partnership are also involved in the scheme.
The application says the existing Pine Harbour ferry, with its commuter services to downtown Auckland, supports higher-intensity development in the area.
The site is partly occupied by the Rydges Formosa Golf Course and Resort.
That land has had extensive modifications and earthworks when the golf course was built in the mid-1990s.
The course has a large clubhouse/conference venue and about 50 visitor accommodation units.
A large recreational building is beside the driveway to the golf course car park.
Plan change application carried this image of how the new project could look. Photo / Supplied
The rest of the 307.1ha site is largely undeveloped, covered in pasture and farmed.
The site has an undulating topography which falls dramatically along the coastal margins.
It is dissected by a series of ecological features including streams, wetlands and significant escarpments of native vegetation, the plan change application says.
Plans for dealing with water, wastewater and stormwater have been developed along with road upgrades and a more frequent ferry service is possible.
Coastal boardwalks, playgrounds, parks and open spaces are planned and Russell said that could be a catalyst for the community to get new primary and secondary schools.
Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki exercises mana whenua for the area and supports the scheme.
Companies Office records show Beachlands South GP was only incorporated in April 2020 and 73.6 per cent is owned by NZSF Beachlands which is the Superannuation Fund, 21.3 per cent is owned by Russell’s MIB Limited Partnership and 5 per cent by Ngāi Tai Hapai Development Limited Partnership of Christchurch.
David Kennedy of Remuera, Brett Allan Russell of St Heliers and Katie Alison Sherning of Pt Chevalier are directors.
A joint announcement in 2020 from the NZ Super Fund and Russell Property Group, which owns major national builder Dominion Constructors, said the parties would buy 250ha of land: the 170ha club at 110 Jack Lachlan Dr and a further 80ha at 620 Whitford-Maraetai Rd already owned by an associate of Russell Property Group.
The properties are valued at more than $80m but no price was announced when the purchases were made.
Brett Russell, who developed many new high-rise developments in the Quay Park area of the CBD near the Spark Arena. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Unio’s application said the development allows the logical expansion of the existing Beachlands-Maraetai coastal towns.
The application compared the 307.1ha site to Hobsonville Point’s 174ha, Long Bay’s 162ha, Stonefields’ 110ha and Addison’s 88ha, showing how the southeastern site at the centre of the plan change application was so much larger than any of those.
“When compared to the size of other recent greenfield urbanisation projects, Beachlands South has the scale to provide significant residential and business opportunities that will benefit the region as well as the immediate locality,” the Urbis application said.
Submissions on the rezoning are now closed and a decision on the application is due.
This scheme is not the only one there. Privately-owned 36-village owner Metlifecare has its new Pōhutukawa Landing there, investing around $180m in that.
Development of that site began around 2020 after nearly two years of planning.
Other plan changes lodged with the council for big new schemes are for 301-303 Buckland Rd, Pukekohe to rezone 7.8ha of land for business and at 41-43 Brigham Creek Rd, Whenuapai, rezoning 5.2ha of land for housing.
