Beachfront sales kick into stage two at Omaha

By ANNE GIBSON

A beachfront section an hour's drive north of Auckland is the drawcard for sales agents who at Labour Weekend will promote the release of 76 new sections at Omaha Beach.

This is just the latest offering in the $100 million development of the sandspit across a causeway north of Warkworth, which will eventually have 600 sections - but no shops yet.

In the latest sale of 76 sections, 10 are beachfront, ranging in size from 835 sq m to about the full quarter-acre of 1475 sq m.

These jewels are priced from $750,000.

Of the remaining sections, 32 are one back from the beach, starting at $345,000 and varying in size from 670 sq m to 925 sq m.

The final lot are what the marketing agents call within "a five-minute dawdle of the beach", and at a slightly more snug 450 sq m, are priced from $150,000.

The first stage of the development 15 minutes from Warkworth - where the nearest shops are at Matakana - involved 130 sections, of which 90 have been sold and settled, including 34 beachfront sections.

"Further sales of these lots are under negotiation," says Nancy McConnell, of PR firm Hansen McConnell, which is assisting in the promotion of the latest sale.

The 170ha Omaha Beach development, 75km north of Auckland, has been the project of listed Wellington development and investment company Southern Capital, controlled by Graeme Wong as executive chairman.

In the September 12 Stock Exchange announcement on Southern Capital's final result for the year to June 30, Mr Wong acknowledged Omaha's contribution to the company's bottom line:

"A significant contributor to reported earnings was income recognised upon settlement of the sections that were pre-sold at Omaha Beach."

Southern Capital reported a tax-paid profit of $1.36 million and it seems Omaha is well out of the red.

But not everyone is happy about the real estate boom at Omaha. Joe Polaischer, of Rainbow Farm on Matakana Valley Rd, criticised the development in an article in the Herald on July 14.

He is particularly critical of the lack of shops at Omaha, saying holidaymakers clog up the roads driving for supplies.

"Developers come in, make a buck and leave. But you have to look at how much the land can sustain," he said.

"We are lacking a vision of what we want here."