Billionaire’s new luxury lodge
American billionaire Julian Robertson has applied for resource consent to open a luxury lodge on Waiheke Island.
In 2018, Robertson was given permission by the Overseas Investment Office (OIO) to buy the $18.9 million 34-hectare property at Kauaroa Bay on Waiheke Island for the development of a lodge for 30 to 40 guests.
Robertson and his family have already invested in three luxury lodges, that charge between $1000 to $3000 a night.
The resource consent application was filed in December and is being assessed by Auckland Council.
According to the application, the lodge will include a restaurant for guests as well as a pool, gym and spa facilities.
The existing Kauaroa Bay homestead, built in 1896, has five bedrooms, a swimming pool and tennis court. The homestead will form part of the luxury lodge.
Guests will stay in villas clustered around the main lodge restaurant and recreation buildings will be accessed with carts or on walking tracks.
Robertson’s earlier OIO consent said he intended to provide walking access to the coast and to a lookout point on the property which has until now been off-limits. ‘‘The public will be able to walk to the coast and a lookout point on the property which provides a 300-degree view across Auckland, Koi Island and Rocky Bay (Whakanewha Bay),’’ the OIO said.
Robertson has also undertaken an ecology programme on the property to restore wetlands and was undertaking pest control and revegetation measures on parts of the land, according to his resource consent.
However, Robertson’s purchase of the land nearly didn’t happen after government officials expressed scepticism over the philanthropist’s genuine intentions to build a commercial activity on the site.
At the time, a lawyer for the OIO wrote to Robertson’s lawyer, Jeff Morrison, to say the office’s initial view was that the application be declined because Robertson’s company Waiaua Bay Farm, hadn’t lodged a resource consent, engaged experts, or even talked to Auckland Council about its plans.
This view was later overturned and the purchase application was approved.
Robertson has had a long history in New Zealand. In addition to his three luxury lodges at Kauri Cliffs near Bay of Islands, Cape Kidnappers in Hawke’s Bay, and Matakauri at Queenstown, Robertson has made significant donations to the University of Auckland, Emirates Team New Zealand and Matauri Bay School.
Robertson also donated 15 major art works worth $115m to Auckland Art Gallery in 2009, including paintings by Paul Cezanne, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Paul Gauguin and Piet Mondrian.
That same year, Robertson become New Zealand’s first honorary knight.