Auckland’s next hotspot for first-home buyers could be Beachlands, a sleepy seaside suburb in the city’s eastern fringes.
Plans for a large master-planned community on more than 300 hectares in the suburb are under consideration by council and, if given the green light, could provide 3000 new homes to the area.
The proposed multi-billion-dollar development in Beachlands South will cover an area larger than the master-planned development at Hobsonville Point, in Auckland’s west, and is being pushed by a consortium that includes the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, Russell Property Group, Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki and Hāpai Development Property LP.
The development, which will sit on land encompassing the Formosa Golf Course, 620 Whitford-Maraetai Road and 712 Whitford-Maraetai Road is also set to include green spaces, a new village centre with shops, cafés and restaurants, a coastal walkway, and a commercial and business centre.
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A nine-hole international golf course would be retained as part of the development, which will mostly be accessed from Jack Lachlan Drive.
The new development won’t be as dense as Hobsonville, but it is expected to provide a significant number of properties suitable for first-home buyers. The proposal needs Auckland Council approval, and not all locals are in favour of the expansion of Beachlands, with several hundred submitting objections.
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The Beachlands South development, if approved, will have a number of unique features to it, said developer Brett Russell, of Russell Property Group.
One of those unique features will be, Ministry of Education willing, that schools will be built at the very beginning of the development.
“When you start a normal development, you’ve got to build a community up first because you’re starting without a nucleus [of students],” said Russell. “But there’s already 700 to 800 [students] going out of the area to school.”
That number would need to build up to around 1500 students to make the school viable, which the additional 3000 homes would help with. “The Catch 22 is that [the MoE] can’t commit until we get a plan change,” said Russell. “But they’ve been pretty supportive in our talks.”
The northern end of the development site almost neighbours the Pine Harbour Marina, where ferries from Auckland dock. Russell said the more dense housing of Beachlands South will be at that end of the development, where homeowners will be within walking distance of the ferry terminal. “We’ve actually got more density where you could walk to the ferry terminal, less density as it gets away from the ferry,” he said. “People will walk within about a kilometre radius. We’ve also got electric buses that are going to collect people and take them to the ferry.”
The partners applied to Auckland Council for a private plan change in December 2022 and the council called for public submissions in January 2023.
Developer Brett Russell, of the Russell Group, with concept drawings for the new development. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Those opposed to the development cite a range of issues in their submissions including water, sewage, roads, ferry, secondary school. The partners have promised to work with submitters and the local community.
NZ Super Fund portfolio manager for Beachlands Katie Dean said the NZ Super Fund has a 73% share of the Beachlands South Limited Partnership. The NZ Super Fund was approached by Russell Group, which was involved in other projects with the sovereign wealth fund.
“We invest in opportunities that align well with who we are, as an investor,” said Dean. “We have a long-term horizon, and we like to invest in opportunities where we feel that our capital and our expertise gives an advantage. We enjoy working with partners who bring different skills to us [and] we take an active role in governance.”
Dean said the exact make-up of the housing will be determined by the plan change. “The development will have a broad range of typologies in accordance with the unitary plan. We envisage there being a mixture of apartments, terraced houses, standalone, retirement living, and there’s of course, the contemplation for things like build-to-rent. So I very much hope there will be good opportunities for first-home buyers,” she said.
It will be a number of years before the first homes are occupied, said Dean. Schools could be in place by 2028, taking pressure off surrounding schools and taking cars off the road.
Beachlands Maraetai Omana Concerned Residents Group (BMO), which was formed to oppose the development, had 346 members in March 2023. The group’s submission on the proposal covered transport issues, availability of water infrastructure, medical services and a number of general planning issues.
Many of the complaints from locals relate to the single two-lane Whitford-Maraetai Road, which can be a bottleneck for commuters to Auckland. The local Pohutukawa Coast Grapevine Facebook group has regular postings when snarl-ups occur, with members asking if the road is clear.
First-home buyers are among the target groups the development is set to cater to. Photo / Supplied
There will be denser housing towards to the marina side of the development. Photo / Supplied
Multiple submitters said the ferry terminal would need to be improved and more services put on for the increased population. Some noted that residents mostly worked in other parts of Auckland rather than the CBD, where ferries berth. Dean said, however, that as the population builds, a range of local transport options would be added.
Not all locals are opposed. Engineer Whittaker Hamilton submitted in favour. Hamilton has lived in Beachlands for 20 years. When he first moved to the suburb locals were opposing a supermarket/shopping development. “Now that it’s happened, it has shown great economic benefits.
“Not all developments are bad. Obviously, created well, they can have some benefits for our community. Look at Hobsonville. You’ve got a fantastic community there. They’ve done it really well, taken the community’s feelings into account, and have created green spaces, schools and businesses.
“The alternative is obviously, don’t do [a master-planned community in Beachlands]. You’ll end up with 20 different developers developing different areas.”
Hamilton said the building of the community would benefit local tradies and other businesses such as bakeries, which can expect a line of workers buying pies at lunchtime.
He added that as traffic grew more money would be assigned to road and ferry transportation. “In the submission they’ve already been talking with the ferry and public transport [providers] to enhance that.”
Hearings on the plan change start on November 27.
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