Iwi consultation over property projects raises the ire of one hapū leader; two Waiheke Marina bosses change direction; Mercy Hospital expansion, upgrade due to open next year - this in today’s Property Insider column.
Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei deputy chairman Ngarimu Blair has spoken out against iwi submitting on Tāmaki Makaurau property projects, after one on a new Remuera retirement village.
“Haere atu” (go away) is his message in response.
Ngāti Te Ata Waiohua objected to maunga viewshafts being blocked by an 11-building 183-unit project proposed for the 3.2h ex-Caughey Preston site, 17 Upland Rd.
“Tangata whenua of Remuera and central Auckland are upset at the ongoing situation that has allowed up to 21 iwi to be consulted on consents and council policy,” Blair said.
“An iwi based in Waiuku has put its paddle in here, where they should simply raise any issues they have with us as the resident and closely related hapū,” Blair said referring to Ngāti Te Ata Waiohua submitting to the Environmental Protection Authority on the plans.
“While many iwi have historical connections to central Auckland as we have elsewhere around the region, it must be the resident hapū's right and obligation to make cultural decisions. This Māori engagement trend in our region is costing ratepayers immensely and slowing down much-needed housing and must be knocked on its head.
“We have been successful in the High Court to stop this carry-on but it will take more time for most to get back to looking after their own areas,” Blair said, referring to Justice Matthew Palmer declaring the hapū the mana whenua and ahi kā of central Auckland, according to their tikanga and historical tribal narrative and tradition.
Ngāti Whātua did not submit on the Remuera plans.
Ngāti Te Ata Waiohua said it had a traditional relationship and a long-standing history with Remuera via its Waiohua lineage, hence it submitted a 37-page cultural impact assessment on soil, earthworks, water, erosion and sediment control, water quality, stormwater, indigenous vegetation, open space and greenways, sustainability, infrastructure and urban design.
Waiheke Marina directors Tony Mair and fellow director and daughter Sarah Mair are sailing away - but not literally.
“After 50 years as a professional engineer with 35 of them focusing solely on developing marinas, it’s time to retire and take a well-earned break,” Tony Mair said.
He has developed more than 6000 marina berths in the South Pacific but the most controversial was on the island which drew extreme protests.
Tony and Sarah Mair’s stakes in the business had gone to other existing shareholders “and a new but experienced face from the marina industry will operate the marina”, a statement said.
The company announced the new shareholder/director is Tom Warren who will also be the director and co-manager of Waiheke Marina. Warren’s LinkedIn profile says he is chief executive of Heron Marinas at Heron Construction.
Heron built the new Waiheke Marina.
Existing shareholders/directors in the Waiheke Marina business are barrister and independent hearing commissioner Kitt Littlejohn and Mark Schmack, with two decades of experience in the marina management industry, establishing and managing Ōrākei Marina and directly involved in Waiheke Marina’s development and construction.
Littlejohn and Schmack will continue with the business with Warren.
Registered Master Builders Association has short-listed the marina for a commercial project award in the tourism and leisure category.
Mair concluded: “Kennedy Point, now renamed Waiheke Marina, will go down in my memory as one of the most challenging I have done,” citing protests, media attention, legal challenges and the pandemic.
MercyAscot’s Private Hospitals’ big expansion at its Māungawhau Mercy Hospital site is advancing.
Contractors carried out 12 months of piling and excavating 11m underground for its big new hospital wing. The aging Stella Maris building on the northern side of Mercy Hospital was demolished to make way for the new wing.
Civil works by John Fillmore Construction were carried out from 2021 to 2022.
Now, 95 per cent of the new steel structure constructions are complete, concrete floor slabs are down on levels one, two and three and secondary steel framing for the surgical pendants is complete. Those pendant units carry lights, equipment and other displays around patients in the operating theatres.
The project by Leighs Construction is scheduled to be done by next year.
“To meet the expected growth in demand for healthcare services, Mercy Hospital is currently undergoing a significant transformation, with a new state-of-the-art hospital wing,” the hospital business said.
The new building will offer 10 operating theatres and will expand post-anaesthetic, intensive, and high-dependency care capacity, it said.
In 2022, chief executive Dr Ian England told the Herald of the three-year programme to transform the property at 98 Mountain Rd.
A new 6435sq m four-level 9m-high wing would have operating theatres, a new intensive care unit with high-dependency beds and a new ward with single patient bedrooms.
Mercy’s floor area will be expanded from 17,000sq m to 23,000sq m.
Auckland Council previously notified Mercy Ascot Properties’ application to erect a giant luffer crane on the site for 24 months to undertake the work. That crane which can rise up to 60m will interfere with the protected volcanic view shaft of Maungawhau/Mt Eden.
Leighs said last January that it had installed ground tension anchors “15m into the fractured basalt, allowing excavation of the crane foundation and 900mm thick raft slab for lift pit two to commence”.
A post anaesthetic care unit will have 17 beds and the intensive care and high dependency units will have six beds each. A new ward will have 20 single and four double-patient bedrooms. A sterile store, dedicated whānau room and lifts complete the expansion.
On 26 March, Property Insider recounted the experience of a couple of investors in commercial property funds managed by Oyster Group. Oyster’s chief executive Mark Schiele has since got in touch to correct matters I got wrong.
One couple in the Pastoral House Fund said they had seen their investment of $1m reduce to $750,000. Actually, there was never a redemption facility on that fund, and that particular investor had sold some of their interests, which accounted for the reduction.
Second, one investor who put $150,000 into the $1.1b Oyster Direct Property Fund said they had lost $90,000 when she sold those units.
Schiele pointed out that while the investor exited the fund with around $67,000, they had previously received redemptions of over $56,000 (with most of those being at a higher unit price than when they invested initially), and around $33,000 of distribution payments over the duration of their investment.
I apologise to Oyster Group for the errors and for not providing them with adequate opportunity to comment and respond to recent articles.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, has won many awards, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
'Apartments on the site and more than likely offices' – Andrew Moore, CMP Construction.