KEY POINTS:
A $30 million marina opened on the Auckland waterfront yesterday - decades after it was first proposed.
Construction of the 180-berth Orakei Marina, between Hobson and Okahu bays, began almost two years ago.
Project director Tony Mair, who retired yesterday, said: "After 50 years of many people including the [then] Auckland Harbour Board trying to put a marina here, this one finally opened.
"The harbour board was going to build a marina here prior to building Westhaven and, in the 1980s and 1990s, other groups tried to put a marina here."
About 80 boats arrived at the marina from midday, despite the less-than-ideal weather conditions.
All but two of the berths, which range in price from $100,000 to $750,000, have sold. "There is extremely high demand here from big boats and locals from the eastern side of Auckland."
Most of the berths had sold before construction began. "It's a prime location because of the position along the waterfront and also easy access to the harbour and the gulf."
Mr Mair, who is an engineer and has been building marinas for 28 years, said it would be owned and operated by a charitable trust.
But it has not all been smooth sailing. The Tamaki Drive Protection Society's Dr George Hitchcock, who has been fighting marina proposals since 1985, had previously said he and others feared the marina could be the start of a slippery slope to full-scale development. The waterfront was an "icon" that "shouldn't be massacred for a profit".
Mr Mair said the marina had been well received.
