Pakatoa Island in the Hauraki Gulf is being marketed for sale around the world for $30 million but its millionaire owner is considering carving it up into a luxury housing estate.
One of the few privately owned gulf islands has been in the hands of meat mogul John Ramsey for
the past decade. Mr Ramsey owns international lamb and mutton exporter Crusader Meats of Benneydale, 35km southeast of Te Kuiti.
But now agents in Auckland and Australia have a marketing drive on to sell the 24ha jewel near Waiheke Island, promoting its sheltered private beaches, abundant native bush, subdivision potential and proximity to Auckland, 32km away.
While agents hunt for buyers, Mr Ramsey has his own development plans, after holding discussions with Auckland City about options. He is considering an upmarket housing estate and does not rule out a joint venture.
"But there's no panic to do anything, it just gets worth more the longer it sits there," Mr Ramsey said. "Officially it's not on the market because we're going to redevelop it ourselves shortly."
In 1994, he paid $4.2 million for the island, which was on the market two years ago for a reported $20 million and is now listed at $30 million.
Any sale to foreigners would need Government clearance and one lobby group wants to see it stay in local hands.
Murray Horton of the Campaign Against Foreign Ownership of Aotearoa said an overseas sale could see it fall to an absentee owner only out to speculate on the island's value.
"It would be just another example of more prime New Zealand land going offshore and we wouldn't want to see that," Mr Horton said.
Annelies McClure, manager of the Government's Overseas Investment Office, said any sale to a foreigner would require consent of two ministers. The land would be viewed under last year's amendments to the Overseas Investment Act, which tightened up rules governing rural and coastal property sales after two controversies: the sale of Gisborne landmark Young Nicks Head to an American millionaire and Canadian singer Shania Twain's purchase of South Island high country.
Ms McClure said Pakatoa would come under the definition of sensitive land. Any foreign sale in this category needed clearance from Finance Minister Michael Cullen and Land Information Minister David Parker.
Late last year, Colliers International listed Pakatoa for sale. Agent Roger Seavill said Australian buyers had sought information on it but none had yet offered to buy it.
Australian agent Cheyenne Morrison of Port Douglas is also scouting for buyers.
His marketing material says the island would be ideal for a luxury private community. The existing resort facilities could be upgraded and the older cottages removed to make way for building lots or luxury villas.
Its special zoning means the island can be divided into lots of 500sq m to 1.5ha.
The island has a somewhat sad and strange history.
In the early 1900s, the Salvation Army based its women's alcoholic centre there and treated men on nearby Rotoroa Island.
But when passing sailors discovered Pakatoa and its inhabitants, they rowed ashore, bringing drink with them and creating further problems for the women.
Almost half a century later, Pakatoa was sold to the Kerridge Odeon cinema chain and Sir Robert Kerridge developed it as a tourist resort, buying a fast hydrofoil ferry to transport guests from the city.
During the 1980s, Kerridge Odeon merged with another company, Pacer Pacific, run by businessman David Phillips, whose empire collapsed in the sharemarket collapse later that decade. Then two international fraudsters attempted to develop the island. German Ralf Simon and Briton Giovanni Di Stefano both devised schemes for the island which came to little and they both fled the country.
When Mr Ramsey bought the island in 1994 he said he had no need to do anything there immediately. "It just keeps getting more valuable. I might just keep it as a holiday place."
Gulf paradise
Pakatoa Island, a tourist resort built in the 1960s, has:
Two diesel power generators.
24 beach-side cabins.
38 two- and three-bedroom units.
Nine-hole golf course.
Pool and landing strip.
Four fresh-water bores.
John Ramsey has owned Pakatoa for 12 years. Picture / Derek Flynn
Pakatoa Island in the Hauraki Gulf is being marketed for sale around the world for $30 million but its millionaire owner is considering carving it up into a luxury housing estate.
One of the few privately owned gulf islands has been in the hands of meat mogul John Ramsey for
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.