City for sale

Oliver Scott, director of North Holdings Group.

It was touted as a new city, with more than 2200 homes, new businesses and industry, but the planned Marsden City development has sunk and the land is for sale after companies behind the scheme were put into receivership.

Developer Oliver Scott was behind the 83 hectare Marsden City plan through his companies North Holdings Development Ltd, NH Infrastructure Ltd and North Holdings Investment Ltd.

Mr Scott had previously said the development would have a mixed-use town centre comprising about 765,000sq/m of land, commercial and industrial buildings and residential units.

Stage one of the development was to include 22,000sq/m of retail space and 20,000sq/m of other commercial activity, 250 residential house lots, 150 apartments above retail and a variety of industrial uses. There was to be up to 2200 residential units.

However, the three companies were placed into receivership on May 21, but receivers BDO Auckland would not say how much was owed by the firms. Mr Scott could not be contacted for comment.

Now the Marsden City land, including the various consents already issued for the development, is up for sale by tender, with real estate firm Bayleys marketing the land on behalf of the receivers.

The 83ha block of land is made up of 88 titles - with resource consent granted to subdivide an additional 45 residential sections. A sealed roading network throughout the land has been completed, with preliminary infrastructure services laid for telecommunications, and waste water connections.

Last year the Northern Advocate revealed that sections of the stormwater and wastewater systems on the multi-million-dollar Marsden City development had "failed", causing pipes and manhole covers to slump, a situation that could end up costing several million dollars to repair.

That issue is still being resolved by the Whangarei District Council.

Two of Mr Scott's other companies - Marsden City and Marsden City Developments - have not filed their annual returns and are in danger of being removed from the Companies Register if the returns are not filed soon.

The freehold block - next to State Highway 1 at Ruakaka, south of Whangarei - is being marketed for sale as one lot by tender through Scott Kirk of Bayleys Auckland and Duncan Napier of Bayleys Warkworth under instructions from the receivers.

Tenders close on August 27.

Mr Kirk said the site's multiple zonings allowed for a multitude of uses - with residential, commercial, and industrial components.

The land - which has gradually been developed since the mid-2000s - was first zoned for purely commercial and industrial uses, but a private plan change several years ago saw a portion of the land rezoned for residential use.

"The land for sale sits on the fringe of the designer residential and retail urban development known as Marsden Cove, along a coastal strip heading south from Marsden Point Wharf and the adjacent oil refinery," Mr Kirk said.

"The portion of land facing onto SH1 linking Whangarei and the Far North to Auckland is zoned for light industrial and commercial activities.

"As a cornerstone of urban support infrastructure, this land was identified to house the likes of a large Foodtown/Countdown/Pak 'n' Save supermarket - whose customer catchment area would encompass Marsden Cove, Waipu, and as far south as Lang's Beach."

Mr Kirk said that because there were so many potential land-use combinations for the site, it would be virtually impossible to put a suggested dollar value on it.