Blue Bay sections must go

HOMES HERE AT LAST? The planned waterfront holiday home subdivision, on land previously operated as a classic Kiwi campground at Mahia Peninsula, has been placed on the market for sale by its mortgagee. Picture supplied

MORE than a decade after they were made, the lonely streets of Blue Bay at Mahia could at last have homes for company.

Real estate agent Bayleys is offering 35 sections across a 2.9ha area of the waterfront Blue Bay subdivision as part of a mortgagee sale, with instructions that the sections must be sold.

The controversial conversion of Blue Bay Motor Camp into a private development, and the subsequent marketing of the sections for sale, caused both local and national consternation at the highest level in the mid-2000s.

The project was the subject of a New Zealand-made documentary film called The Last Resort.

Bayleys Gisborne saleswoman Katie Bowen said the mortgagee would prefer to sell all 35 lots in one unified portfolio, but would consider tenders for individual sections or smaller blocks of multiple sections.

The 35 lots now for sale still have the original utility services connected to their boundary lines. Ms Bowen said they might need some maintenance work to make them operative.

The prime coastal Mahia sections range in size from 672 to 1131 square metres.

Latest Wairoa District Council rating valuations on the sections range from $67,000 to $143,000, well down from the $650,000 price tags associated with some of the plots when they first went on sale 12 years ago.

“We expect strong interest from developers and individuals along the East Coast, as well as Auckland, Tauranga and Wellington,” Ms Bowen said.

Ms Bowen said the mortgagee sale would, ironically, be targeted at the local market “and within the reach of both the Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay holiday home prospective buyer markets”.

Ms Bowen said Mahia Peninsula’s global profile had recently "skyrocketed", literally, with Rocket Lab building its launching facility in the area.

“This part of the East Coast has traditionally drawn visitor numbers based on its natural attractions — fishing, surfing, diving and bush walks.

Cape Canaveral of NZ?“However, as the frequency of Rocket Lab’s satellite launches increases, Mahia could well become the Cape Canaveral of New Zealand, and attract a whole new visitor sector.

“That could have a consequential effect on the demand for holiday homes in the area.”

The site was home to Blue Bay Motor Camp for about 60 years until it closed in the early 2000s.

It was landscaped into the genesis of an exclusive residential enclave by a Wellington property developer who set about constructing paved avenues and installing infrastructure, including street lighting, sewerage, drainage and a water supply system.

Under its original layout, completed in 2004, the subdivision contained 44 sections set among grass-covered sand dunes. Seven sections were sold to private individuals, with Wairoa District Council buying two further sites in 2012 to establish the Opoutama Community Wastewater Scheme.

The roads and streets associated with the Blue Bay subdivision, and the original water and sewerage scheme installed some 13 years ago, have been passed on to Wairoa District Council to operate.

The developer faced financial difficulties and the Blue Bay subdivision was taken back by the mortgagee. It was subsequently sold to a second developer in 2008, shortly before the global financial crisis struck, and the asset has remained dormant since then.

Sale by mortgagee tenderThe site is being marketed for sale by mortgagee tender, with tenders closing at 2pm on September 13.

Wairoa District Council economic development and engagement manager Kitea Tipuna said the council was involved with issuing freehold titles and other infrastructure work for Blue Bay back in 2006.

“The council is keen to see Blue Bay become a place where locals and visitors alike are able to enjoy the beauty of Blue Bay, Mahia Peninsula and the rest of the Wairoa district.”

The controversial sale of the land in the early 2000s started years of protests from some residents, who opposed the sale of the site because it had not been land-banked for Treaty of Waitangi claims.

Before that sale, the land was freeholded by LandCorp under instructions from the Government, under Section 62 of the Land Act.

Landcorp had previously stated that in accordance with Government instructions, all leasehold land parcels were offered for sale to the leaseholders before LandCorp Investments was wound up.

Protests stopped in 2006 after a “naked protest” by local women.