The Hopper site at Hobbs Bay, opposite the Gulf Harbour Marina. The new marina would be built in this area.
The Hopper site at Hobbs Bay, opposite the Gulf Harbour Marina. The new marina would be built in this area.
Privately-owned waterfront, housing and retirement village specialist Hopper Developments has applied for fast-track consent to develop a 300-berth marina at Gulf Harbour’s Hobbs Bay in front of its $100 million housing scheme.
Shana Hopper-McCully, Hopper sales and marketing manager, said today the application had gone to the Ministryfor the Environment under the fast-track approval process.
“Hopper Developments recognises the need for additional access and launching facilities in the Hibiscus Coast area, as well as additional fixed mooring infrastructure across the Auckland region,” a statement said.
Hopper’s research showed a significant shortfall in boating facilities in the area, with notable delays in trailer boat access for launching and retrieval causing frustration among the local boaties.
Planned marina (bottom centre outlined in black) at Hobbs Bay, Gulf Harbour. The existing Gulf Harbour Marina is shown to the left of this image. Image / Hopper Developments
“Our proposal is designed to alleviate some of this frustration and help address the existing undersupply,” the business said.
Hopper submitted the application with plans for the marina showing including a public beach and boat ramp.
Hopper-McCully said today earthworks were well underway for the first stages of the housing scheme at Hobbs Bay. Initial marketing of those properties had just begun, she said.
“These homes will be right on the waterfront with sea views, wetlands and reserves as well as incorporating the original homestead,” she said.
Once the subdivision at Hobbs Bay Estate was completed, the opportunity to expand with a marina development would be considerably more challenging, the business said.
Berths will be 14m to 25m in length and there will be 10 superyacht berths designed for those multimillion-dollar vessels.
The marina is planned to be developed next to the entrance channel to Gulf Harbour, opposite the ferry terminal.
Leigh Hopper at Whitianga Waterways. Photo / Doug Sherring
“Such opportunities are rare and there are few other suitable locations for a marina in the Auckland region. We believe boating is integral to the quintessential Kiwi lifestyle of coastal living, and we understand that there is a responsibility on developers like us, to fulfil the needs of our community to recreate on the water. In this case, the wonderful Hauraki Gulf playground is just on the other side of the boat ramp,” the statement said.
The marina is planned for in front of the new Hobbs Bay Estate.
Hobbs Bay at Gulf Harbour where the creation of super-lots for new homes is under way already.
In 2022, the Herald reported Tim Brooks, Hopper chief executive, saying 89 residential lots would be created at Hobbs Bay, ranging from 715sq m to 3887sq m per site. Hopper had bought the land for $24m and the site was one of the last remaining large waterfront plots of its kind, sloping gently down to the waterfront but flanked by cliffs so the land is around 5m above the sea.
The scheme was in the vicinity of around $100m, Brooks said.
The Hopper family is on the NBR Rich List, estimated to have a $190m fortune three years ago.
Daisy Burrell Drive site marked in red, with the existing marina to the left. Plans for the new marina are in the area to the right at the sheltered Hobbs Bay. Photo / Google
At Hobbs Bay, Brooks said house-and-land packages would be sold, rather than bare sections.
Other industry specialists said today they were keen to know more about Hopper’s application.
One said he would be interested in the numbers “because it might not be cheap to build:
He wondered about the conditions in the area and whether there was sandstone around the bottom of the cliffs.
Correspondence from Gulf Harbour Marina to its berth holders said Hopper Developments had sought support for its application.
“We have advised them we cannot support something with minimal consultation information but feel you as berth holders should be kept informed,” that business wrote. It showed berth holders a map of where Hoppers planned the new marina.
Construction of Waiheke Island’s first marina drew violent protests around the winter of 2021. That marina at Kennedy Point is now called the Waiheke Island Marina and is 181 berths of which 90 per cent were under contract or sold well before it opened.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
