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A waterfront camp run by the Salvation Army and visited by thousands of Auckland school children in the past two decades is about to be carved up for housing.
The army has official clearance to sell its Snells Beach camp north of Auckland to Asian investors for $5.6 million.
The Government's Overseas Investment Office has approved Camp Mahurangi's sale to Neil Construction, which is owned by Malaysia's Tiong family and specialises in creating large residential subdivisions.
The office said the 4ha freehold block of land at 10 Robinia Place was zoned for future urban expansion by Rodney District Council and adjoined a 5.4ha block of land which Neil Construction had bought and was also subdividing. Neil would subdivide the camp site.
"The applicant proposes to undertake a residential subdivision development which will provide about 48 residential lots to assist in meeting the demand for residential lots in the Rodney district," the office said. The development's first stage would start next October.
The office said the sale would create new employment and the introduction of additional investment for development purposes.
Upmarket housing project Whisper Cove is being built next to Camp Mahurangi and villa units overlooking Kawau Bay are going for more than $1 million.
Not everyone is happy about the army's shift. When the camp's sale was announced late last year, the army's move upset residents and Auckland teachers, who said the 122-bed camp was popular and well-run. It would also be hard to find an alternative venue.
But the army said it did not want its resources tied up in large complexes like the camp and was moving towards wider-reaching community-based work.
The camp has two houses, dormitories, a large hall, kitchen facilities, an office area and an ablution block.
An historic weatherboard church was moved to the site last decade from Matakana and plans have been made to shift it off the site.
