Last suburban block for sale on peninsula
A substantial block of bare waterfront farmland at the tip of the Whangaparaoa Peninsula just north of Auckland – along with plans for the development a 119-section coastal residential subdivision on the property – has been placed on the market for sale.
The 13.43-hectare property at 198 Pinecrest Drive is the last remaining portion of what was once Hobbs Farm – a former horticultural and dry stock unit which traces its pioneering roots back to the early 1900s. Hobbs Bay on the peninsula is named after the area’s colonial founder.
A concept residential subdivision development plan for 198 Pinecrest Drive has been drafted up by civil surveying and environmental engineering firm Cato Bolam. The nonconsented plan shows the potential for the creation of 119 residential sections – most ranging in size from 501 square metres up to 1,295 square metres, with the majority of plots designed to sustain stand-alone residential dwellings.
Cato Bolam’s proposed subdivision also has two larger lots allocated to potentially contain two rows of seaward-facing terraced housing – with up to seven dwellings in one row and up to nine dwellings in the other row. The plan also shows a central looping access road with four interconnecting roads and two right-ofways running off it.
The 198 Pinecrest Drive property is now being marketed for sale by tender through Bayleys Real Estate, with tenders closing on March 19, 2020. Agents John Greenwood, Layne Harwood and Roger Sumich said the land was zoned residential 9E under the Auckland Council plan – allowing for Cato Bolam’s subdivision plan to be brought to reality.
“Under Cato Bolam’s residential masterplan for the site, the broad variety of section sizes, aspects, and waterfront or bush reserve proximities, would allow any future subdivision to offer a broad product offering to consumers,” Greenwood said.
“The draft masterplan also lays the foundations for some two-kilometres of public coastal foreshore walkway – ultimately creating access to the currently private sandy beach of Hobbs Bay. If implemented, this would be the first time since the mid-1800s when the land title was created that Hobbs Bay would become publicly accessible to the wider community.
“Substantial portions of mature coastal tree and bush plantings leading down to the high-tide waterline have also been preserved under the Cato Bolam subdivision masterplan to ensure the location’s Significant Ecological Areas (SEAs) are protected for generations to come.”
The Whangaparaoa headland farm was first cleared and created in 1861 by Captain Ranulph Dacre, who then sold it to the neighbouring Shakespear family – after whom nearby Shakespear Regional Park is named after. EH Hobbs purchased the gently sloping promontory block in the early 20th century – and it has remained in Hobbs family ownership ever since, with various portions being sliced off and sold over the ensuing decades.
Greenwood said that at its southeastern periphery, the Pinecrest Drive land for sale bordered onto the private Gulf Harbour Country Club golf course - which was also once part of Hobbs Farm.
Meanwhile the north-western perimeter of Hobbs Farm overlooks the all-tide rock break-water sheltering the 1052-berth Gulf Harbour Marina which accommodates private motor and sailing vessels tied up on fixed moorings.
“The segmentation of the greater original Hobbs Farm over the decades has been undertaken in a strategic manner to allow for well-defined boundaries to be created along all the resulting subdivisions – the pinnacle of which is exemplified in this last remaining portion of land now being marketed for sale,” Greenwood said.
He said the land could also be purchased for continued use as a singular large lifestyle block or land-banked for the future. The 13.43 hectares currently sustains three residential dwellings – including the original fivebedroom Dacre homestead.