Rodney eyes $100m sell-off to cover debt

Rodney District Council, which faces extinction under local government reform plans, says it may consider selling about $100 million of property to try to put a dent in its growing debt.

The 47 properties range from a block of Orewa shops to homes in Whangaparaoa and from the historic Warkworth Hotel to a Wellsford quarry.

One of the 11 properties on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula has a celebrated past.

The council bought the 16ha from British author and disgraced Tory MP Jeffrey Archer (later Lord Archer) in 1999 for the peninsula's "Penlink" bridge and short-cut to the Northern Motorway.

Lord Archer had bought the property in 1986 for $775,000 in expectation of a waterfront land boom if Auckland hosted the 1990 America's Cup.

His bet on the property market eventually paid off with a cheque for $2.75 million from the council.

With still no sign of Government money to build the toll road, the council is looking to its future options for the "Archer Block" should the project slide further off the national action programme.

In releasing a list of proposed properties for disposal yesterday, Rodney Mayor Penny Webster said: "This is no fire sale."

The council's attitude was that it "may consider selling - at the right price. Nothing is going to be dumped on the market".

Mrs Webster said the list had some very marketable properties even in today's property slump. Five properties on Whangaparaoa Rd had already sold for more than the market price.

The five included vacant land, a house and ground and industrial leases.

Mrs Webster said the council had consulted the public about property sales, although it had decided against saying exactly what and where they were. There was the risk that publication would put off potential purchasers and jeopardise the maximum return to ratepayers.

But the council had released the list after media requests under the Official Information Act and false rumours that parks were secretly being sold off.

The council expects to sell $30 million of its commercial property this financial year and a further $50 million in the next year.

It needs about $85 million on top of borrowings to pay for a $856 million capital spending plan over the next decade.

The council said properties like the Warkworth Hotel were not needed for the provision of core council services.

The 1864 hotel in Queen St was bought by the council for $4 million with the intention of using its land for a service lane and a village square.

Council group manager of property services Mark Johannsen said it no longer needed quarries because it had let a three-year contract for road renewal and the contractors had their own metal sources.

Three pine forests on the list were on land fills or had been planted to stabilise slip-prone land.

The Auckland Transition Authority is unlikely to allow any land to be disposed of which would be useful for, say, future roading improvements on the busy Whangaparaoa Rd.

Rodney is fighting the Government's proposed boundary changes.

FOR SALE
* Historic Warkworth Hotel.
* Matheson Bay section.
* Wellsford car park.
* Port Albert quarry.
* Whangateau Forest.
* Helensville depot.
* Waimauku houses.
* Manly houses.
* Red Beach road reserve.
* Stillwater houses.
* Orewa's Moana Shops.
* Silverdale depot.