$1 offer to develop Wynyard boat shed

An Auckland developer offered $1 to take control of a public boat shed at Wynyard Quarter.

Tawera Group chairman Mike Mahoney sought to fund the development of the historic Vos boat shed in return for a 125-year lease on the council-owned land and $1 for the assets, according to documents obtained by the Herald under the Official Information Act (OIA).

In a letter to Panuku chief executive Roger MacDonald, Mahoney expressed an interest in the boat shed restoration project because of a lifelong interest in classic boats.

Panuku is the Auckland Council’s development agency overseeing the restoration and management of the boat shed.

Mahoney said the Vos project was a potential home for his classic boat projects, the NZ Traditional Boat School and other associated marine industries.

“Tawera are available and have the capacity to agree a plan, develop a critical path and reconstruct the building in 2017 — but we need to move immediately,” Mahoney wrote to MacDonald in January 2017.

Panuku approved a $4.7 million restoration of the boat shed in July

2017, but has still to decide how it will be run and managed.

Work began in November last year. The amount of asbestos in the building is more extensive than initially envisaged and Panuku is scoping the extra work. Restoration work is due to be completed by mid next year. This will be followed by a second stage to reinstate the slipway.

Board chairwoman Adrienne Young-Cooper said no decisions have been made as to how the Vos boat shed is going to be run and managed.

“There are several parties who have expressed an interest over the years and Mahoney is one of them.”

The letter was part of an official information response from Panuku to the Herald to do with a helicopter trip by MacDonald to the Bay of Islands as a guest of Mahoney.

The helicopter trip was picked up by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigating fraud claims by mayoral candidate John Tamihere over the sale of the council’s Civic Administration Building to Civic Lane Ltd, which is owned by Tawera Group’s chief financial officer, John Love.

The SFO cleared Panuku of any wrongdoing over the $3m sale but raised concerns about a potential conflict of interest involving MacDonald, saying “its acceptance was ill-advised”.

The trip by MacDonald did not warrant a formal investigation or affect decisions made by Panuku, the SFO said, but “it did risk creating a perception of impropriety” and recommended the CCO review its hospitality and gifts policy.

Young-Cooper said the review is well under way. MacDonald and Mahoney declined to comment.

There are several parties who have expressed an interest over the years and [Mike] Mahoney is one of them. Adrienne Young-Cooper, Panuku board chairwoman