Chin Hill runs from Hatfields to motorway

Chin Hill has views across the Hauraki Gulf and out to towards Mahurangi Harbour and Little Barrier Island. Photo / Supplied

Chin Hill Estate, a 183.3ha Angus beef farm comprising all the rural land between Hatfields Beach and the new State Highway 1 motorway in Rodney District, is one of the biggest land blocks to come on the market in that area, about 30km north of the harbour bridge.

"Chin Hill offers investors a rare chance to secure the largest privately held estate between Auckland's North Shore and the Mahurangi Harbour - directly opposite the suburb of Hatfields and the Auckland metropolitan urban limit," says Bruce Whillans of Ray White Commercial which has been retained by Chin Hill Farm as the exclusive agent to offer the estate for sale by tender.

"The property, just 3km north of Orewa and 18km north of Albany, has uninterrupted elevated southerly views across the Hauraki Gulf and panoramic northerly views out to towards Mahurangi Harbour and Little Barrier Island," Whillans says.

The estate, which includes a farmhouse fronting the Waiwera River, has a ridgeline that effectively breaks it into the northern and southern portions with two respective zones covering each.

Of key importance is the estate's border with existing suburban residential development at Orewa/Hatfields Hill and the urban limit, Whillans says.

"While the property does not currently sit within the limit, its close proximity makes Chin Hill a strategic land bank capable of potentially accommodating Auckland's future urban expansion in one of the nation's fastest growing regions.

"Alternatively the estate provides investors with an array of subdivision options under the existing district plan together with a range of land uses aimed predominantly at primary production."

Whillans says Rodney District and North Shore City are experiencing significant population changes. "Over the next 20 years an additional 90,000 people are expected to be living in the region. This population growth is magnified in Rodney, where the population is expected to grow by 34 per cent over the next 20 years compared to the North Shore, which is forecast to grow by 25 per cent. Growth of this magnitude within an already constrained urban limit will put significant pressure on expanding the limit, increasing the likelihood that Chin Hill will one day be included within it."

At present 144.7ha, the majority of the estate comprising the southern portion of property, falls under a General Rural zoning, which seeks to maintain and promote the existing environmental and landscape value of the land.

Permitted activities under the zone favour primary production including horticulture, forestry, and pastoral farming.

"The ability to subdivide for residential dwellings [in the zone] is considered a limited discretionary activity, focused primarily on safeguarding native bush in return for more intensive development," Whillans says.

The remaining 39ha comprises two sites to the north of the property bounded in part by the Northern Motorway and Waiwera River.