Apartments planned for a three-level 28-unit project near the Pine Harbour Marina in east Auckland are being marketed from $1.8 million.
Simon Herbert's Empire Capital has plans for the L175 scheme on a site at 190 Jack Lachlan Drive, fronting the marina and he expects a variation toan existing consent to be granted soon.
The planned apartments are to look across the marina.
A spokesperson said prices start from $1.8m and go up to $2.78m. Apartments are 130sq m to 150sq m and resource consent has been sought but is not yet granted, she said. The project was designed by Paul Brown of PB&A Architects and unit interiors are by Herbert's wife, Paula.
"We're just waiting on consent. We're hoping it will be issued in the next week or 10 days. We've already got a consent for buildings there from last year so this is more like a change to that," Herbert said.
Gary Taylor, Environmental Defence Society chief executive, said: "Marina apartments can be problematical because of noise, especially from yacht rigging slapping in the wind.
"But there will be those who like that kind of outlook so there should be a market for them. The price seems high. But from an environmental perspective, it's better to be densifying the coast where it's already compromised by development rather than focusing on unspoiled coastline," Taylor said.
"That's the direction indicated in the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement. So in principle the proposal looks acceptable. In terms of intensification, it's probably an area that's no longer natural. It's urbanised in inverted commas. So go for it," Taylor said of the altered coastline at Pine Harbour and Herbert's development plans.
Herbert said four buildings were planned, with cafes and restaurants at ground level and a contractor was yet to be appointed.
The project's name was a reference to its longitude and he expects the units to be finished by 2020. Ferries run between Pine Harbour and the city, taking about 35 minutes from the 570-berth marina near Beachlands, and Pine Harbour is around a 40-minute drive from Auckland's CBD.
In late 2015, Herbert bought the marina and some of the 9ha of associated land zoned for intensive development. He paid $22m and said at the time he had big plans for it.
Paula Herbert designed interiors of the planned units.
He had hit the headlines a year earlier when he showed off plans for his Bayswater Marina Village, seeking to turn a 3.34ha reclaimed site into 100 terraced houses and 20 smaller apartments, all above shops and cafes.
Two years ago, Herbert and his wife Paula listed their Remuera house for sale with a possible price tag of about $20m. The grand heritage-style Remuera Rd house on an 8000sq m section was previously owned by businessman David Richwhite and by John Sanders. Herbert said this week the home was no longer on the market.
"We just decided we're happy there for a bit longer and we've not got anywhere to go," Herbert said this week.
Civil engineer and marina specialist Tony Mair praised Herbert's Pine Harbour plans.
"Everywhere in the world, there's apartments around marinas. It gives excitement to the coast. That's where everyone wants to live. It's very obvious. You see developments in Spain, the Mediterranean and even England. They're fabulous. But it's very, very hard to put real estate on the foreshore," Mair said, citing strong community opposition and difficult planning regulations.
Interiors of the planned L175 apartments.
"People fight strongly against coastal development. I've been in marina development nearly 40 years and every time, people don't what marinas. They don't want change, 'leave us alone' sort of thing and that's fair enough I suppose," Mair said.
In May, independent hearing commissioners granted Mair's Kennedy Point Boatharbour consent to develop a 186-berth marina with 72 carparks on a pontoon connected to the land via a hinged gangway off Donald Bruce Rd, Waiheke Island.
But opposition against that marina has resulted in litigation.
