KEY POINTS:
Developers working on one of Auckland's largest new housing estates are aiming to entice buyers next month, after spending $12 million on infrastructure.
Frank and Richard Reynolds are developing a former farm and orchard at the Manukau Harbour inlet on the Hingaia Peninsula, South Auckland.
Development of the Karaka area is said to be the region's third-largest greenfield expansion after Flat Bush and Takanini.
Kirsty Reynolds is marketing the new housing estate. Show homes would be open soon, but already the land was being used by people in the area for recreation, she said yesterday.
Next month, David Reid, Signature Homes, Jalcon Homes and Mitchell Homes would have display places finished and ready to visit, she said.
Karaka Lakes' first 100 sections are ready after ground and infrastructure work was completed on the project's first 10ha area.
Karaka Lakes and Karaka Centre are new suburban zones where more than 1800 people could eventually live.
The development is adjacent to the Karaka Bloodstock Centre in Papakura and to two lakes with a network of surrounding reserves. Open spaces have been built to link the residential areas and the town centre to the harbour edge.
Karaka Centre is to be a shopping area and hub of the housing estates. Kirsty Reynolds said her brother Frank and his wife Juliet were involved in that new centre.
In 2006, infrastructure work started on a separate project nearby - Karaka Harbourside Estates - a 442-lot project which Kirsty Reynolds said was separate from her family's project.
Dianne Cartmer, Karaka Harbourside Estates' sales manager, said 32 houses were being built by more than 25 different builders.
Less than half of the project had been sold, but marketing of the later stages would not begin for another year, she said.
A joint open-day was planned by Karaka Lakes and Karaka Harbourside Estates on October 18, she said.
The estates project is being developed by Ian and James Ross.
The Hingaia peninsula is earmarked to take a further 10,000 people over the next four decades.
Last decade, Auckland's Regional Growth Strategy identified the peninsula as a new major urban area, expected to have a population of 10,000 by 2050.
Reynolds said the family had been planning Karaka Lakes for the last 10 years. Despite the economic slump, she is still expecting interest in the new project. The family has ambitious plans for the land, building a further four lakes there, she said.
"This downturn could not have come at a worst time, but our project is long term," she said.
Two man-made large lakes were finished this year. These are to take stormwater run-off and treat it before it is discharged into Manukau Harbour. Permission was also sought from Papakura District Council to install a display fountain in one of the lakes.
Reynolds said a 3m-wide bridge was built as a pedestrian walkway. Its piles were sunk 8m down and it was strong enough to take a truck. The bridge is yet to be officially opened.
The family has divided land into areas named Farm, Woodland, Orchard, Herbal Garden and Lake Edge.
Jalcon Homes is marketing Karaka Lakes sections: 558sq m at 9 Hinau Rd for $295,000; 602sq m at 7 Fountain Ave for $320,000; 600sq m at 9 Fountain Ave for $326,000; 661sq m at 11 Fountain Ave for $345,000; 570sq m at 54 Anchorage Drive for $315,000; 551sq m at 66 Anchorage Dr for $315,000; 586sq m at 16 Lake Drive for $326,000; and sections from 600sq m to 711sq m on Wawatai Drive for $315,000 to $326,000.
Universal Homes is marketing two-storey detached properties with at least four bedrooms, including 39 homes with an average of 210sq m of floor space on sections of 350sq m and 12 houses averaging 260sq m on sections of 600sq m to 700sq m.
Jalcon said new house plans must be approved by a special subdivision design committee. Minimum section sizes are 220sq m, and each house owner must spend a minimum of $10,000 on landscaping.
Signature Homes and Mitchell Homes are also marketing house and land packages at Karaka Lakes.
KARAKA LAKES
* New Papakura housing estate.
* 600 sections in next 8 years.
* Adjacent to Southern Motorway.
* 32km south of Auckland CBD.
