$65b Super Fund backs 5000-home project
The $65.4 billion Super Fund is financially backing multibilliondollar plans for a new 5000-residence Beachlands town centre, saying it is hard to find such large schemes to invest in.
Will Goodwin, direct investment head at Guardians of NZ Superannuation, said few opportunities like the Beachlands South scheme presented themselves so the fund was financially backing it.
Nor were there many investors with deep enough pockets to see such a huge scheme through — this proposal being on 307.1-hectare site.
“It is sometimes difficult for us to find domestic investment opportunities of sufficient scale, while conversely, the number of local investors with the ability to sustain an investment of this type throughout its entire cycle is very limited, ” said his evidence supporting private plan change 88.
The land to be developed is without reticulated or sewage mains, according to an expert from Watercare, which doesn’t oppose the plans. The developers plan to use bore water and build a new membrane bioreactor wastewater treatment plant.
Goodwin said New Zealand had a shortage of good, affordable, sustainable housing where people wanted to live and work but Beachlands fits the bill.
“The guardians have invested in Beachlands South because we believe the long-term, net social, environmental, and economic benefits it will generate are aligned with our purpose.”
The Beachlands South Limited Partnership is the Super Fund, parties associated with Brett Russell’s Russell Property Group and Ngai Tai ki Tamaki based in Maraetai, the Waitemata¯ and Tikapa Moana/the Hauraki Gulf.
Goodwin said having the land rezoned and developed would bring long-term benefits to the city, creating a great place to live, play and work in a way that is aligned with New Zealand and Auckland Council’s objectives for sustainable growth.
“As a large Crown-owned entity with a mandate to maximise investment returns without undue risk and our purpose to seek sustainable investment opportunities with co-benefits for New Zealanders, the Super Fund has an opportunity to play a role in addressing this shortage.
“We already do this through various real estate platforms, including our Kaha Ake partnership with Classic Builders, collaboration with Eke Panuku working to align our common sustainability principles, standards and approaches, and our partnership with Ngai Tahu and New Ground Capital at Hobsonville.”
The Super Fund’s evidence urged independent planning commissioners to grant the application to rezone the land.
“Beachlands South affords us the opportunity to take advantage of our intergenerational mandate: our long investment horizon allows us to hold illiquid assets and align the progress of a project such as this with the needs of the broader community and environment,” Goodwin’s evidence of October 9 said.
Residents of the huge new town being proposed would be encouraged to use the existing Pine Harbour ferry service.
“More intensive housing options will be located within walking distance of the ferry terminal, in line with the Unitary Plan’s intention for intensive development to be located around transport nodes,” Goodwin says.
Build-to-rent apartments, retirement living, stand-alone housing and other types of houses were proposed with different price points, Goodwin said.
That would provide people with options.
A spokesman for the Super Fund said this month the Crown entity would not disclose how much it was investing in backing Beachlands. That was not public information, he said.
In 2020, a joint announcement from the Super Fund and Russell Property Group said the parties would buy 250ha of land: the 170ha club at 110 Jack Lachlan Dr and a further 80ha at 620 Whitford-Maraetai Rd owned by an associate of Russell Property Group.
Brett Russell of Russell Group said last month “millions” were being put into the scheme to get the plan change through.
Russell and the others want land rezoned at 110 Jack Lachlan Dr and
620-770 Whitford-Maraetai Rd. The scheme is planned for
307ha including the Formosa Golf Course, on land without reticulated or sewage mains.
Peter Reaburn, a consultant town planner giving evidence for Auckland Council, said: “My primary concern I raise is that private plan change 88 represents significant urban growth in an area that has not been specifically identified for urban growth.”
It was therefore not appropriate to rezone the land in question, Reaburn said.
Mark Laing, a consultant traffic engineer, submitted evidence on behalf of Auckland Transport. The rezoning proposal would have “potentially significant adverse traffic effects on the road network surrounding Beachlands” without upgrades, he said.
The plan change application is scheduled to go before independent hearing commissioners on November 27.
A final decision is not expected until next year.
Beachlands South affords us the opportunity to take advantage of our . . . mandate. Will Goodwin