Harakeke development changes hands
A major rural housing development in Tasman, kick-started by the controversial US businessman Alan Trent, has been taken over by a locally-based German developer.
Carsten Buschkuehle bought the cluster-style Harakeke development covering 178 hectares of coastal farmland off Aporo Rd in August, after Trent sold up ‘‘for personal reasons’’.
The 96-lot subdivision was granted resource consent in December 2016, only after Trent removed plans for a commercial space, hub, plaza and apartments, and reduced the number of proposed lots.
Buschkuehle, who lives opposite the site, said the project would proceed as planned, with about 50 hectares of the site being developed and the rest remaining as rural land.
Work on 32 sections on the ocean side of the valley, and six, million-dollar seafront sections, would begin as soon as the weather allowed.
Local resident Chris Freyberg reiterated concerns that the development would erode the rural character at the top end of the Aporo Valley, with clumps of houses on the hillsides.
Buschkuehle believed the opposite to be true, pointing to the extensive restoration work including re-routing the Tasman stream.
‘‘I think that we will increase the value and rural character of this area by actually getting into the restoration process, which will allow the public but also the residents to use the communal areas like the stream and the coastal walkway way better.’’
Ten of the 130 hectares remaining as rural land had been earmarked for olive trees, with livestock in other areas.
‘‘It’s going to be a public communal area of significance and it should be done properly.’’
The development would follow ‘‘a native, New Zealand theme reflected in sympathetic design, extensive planting, natural materials like stone, wood and glass’’, said the development’s sales representative MyPlace Realty Limited.
The new owner planned to involve the community in the restoration work, with activities like planting days around the stream.
Richard Clement lives on Horton Rd near one of the planned cluster sites, and opposed the original proposal by Trent.
He said he looked forward to ‘‘hopefully having a positive relationship with the new owner.’’
Buschkuehle and his family moved permanently to Tasman in December, after spending five months a year in the region over the last four years.
He also owns a 42 hectare development site at Mahana Ridge, a ‘‘country club style’’ development off Old Coach Road, and has won awards for two show homes in Richmond constructed with a local builder.
‘‘I have known the former owner Alan Trent for many years and have had a real interest in the development since it was first mooted’’ said Buschkuehle.
‘‘I understand that some people locally have a misperception that I’ve been involved in the development already, but I have not had any financial interest or involvement in decision making so far.’’
Trent courted controversy after arriving in the region in 1999. He hit the headlines in 2002 for removing trees growing on the bluffs between Kina and Ruby Bay.