Billionaire building golf resort, luxury lodge west of Auckland
Chinese tycoon driving $113m project, Jane Phare reports
A Chinese billionaire is building a $113 million golf course and luxury lodge west of Auckland.
The 40ha course, designed by former pro Greg Turner, will also host the sports academy that fostered the talents of Kiwi golf star Lydia Ko.
Zhaoxi Lu, also known as Jonathan Lu, bought a 5000ha Muriwai farm in 2020 for $12.5m from the Houghton family, who had worked the property for five generations.
The family decided to sell after the cost of maintaining the farm was more than it could earn.
Lu and his wife, Jialing Yin, bought the site through their company, The Bears Home Project Management.
Golf consultant Ryan Brandeburg said the owner preferred to stay under the radar, dividing his time between New Zealand and China.
“He is pretty passionate about New Zealand. He has pumped a whole lot of money into other things but again he does it without any recognition.”
Sources confirmed to the Weekend Herald that Lu made his money through the giant e-commerce site Alibaba.com, working with cofounder Jack Ma. Lu has held various positions with the company, including vice-chairman of the board and chief executive. Forbes estimated Lu’s wealth to be $1.63 billion in 2022.
Work on the course is due to start within the next three months, with the course expected to be ready for play in 2027. Turner has designed a 19-hole championship course, making the most of the property’s natural features including waterfalls and streams, a wetland and 5ha dune lake, and deep native forest ravines.
“The goal is to have these really cool features that most other golf courses don’t have,” Brandeburg said. “We get a glimpse of the Tasman Sea but we’re not going to compete with Tara Iti or Te Arai [next to Mangawhai surf beach] on the ocean views. But what we have are these really strong New Zealand natural features.”
The golf course and lodge would essentially be alongside a working sheep and cattle farm, Brandeburg said. Dairy farming had been “retired” to protect the waterways, and work to upgrade the farm had been ongoing, including building a new woolshed. The property is divided by Muriwai Rd, with the farmer using an underpass to reach the southern side. The golf course and lodge will be developed on the northern side.
Resource consent documents show that the golf development is expected to cost $62.8m with the lodge, accommodating up to 90 people, a further $50.2m. Images from the documents show chic artist’s impressions of the lodge which will include villa-style accommodation and owners’ cottages, designed by Dunedin architects Mason & Wales.
The lodge will include a pool, spa and fitness centre. The plan is to use a sandstone quarry on the property to create rammed-earth walls for the resort’s buildings.
The architects have also designed “The Retreat”, designed for family groups, which features villa-style accommodation for parents with bunk rooms for kids, a common dining and entertainment area and a pool. It could be used for family reunions or multi-generational families travelling together, Brandeburg said.
Planning for the sports academy is under way, with the Institute of Golf, where Lydia Ko trained from the age of 5, set to tutor at Muriwai.
Tennis coaching of a similarly high standard was in the process of being finalised. Brandeburg hopes other sports could be rotated alongside golf and tennis in the multipurpose space, with coaching in arts and music also a possibility.
Brandeburg and Turner are codirectors of the Golf Strategy Group which consults on golf tourism and helps develop new golf courses for private owners. That includes helping with everything from consulting with iwi and working through consent processes, including ecology, hydrology and traffic reports, to resourcing, staffing and branding.
“Our goal is to take their vision and bring it out of the ground.”
After Cyclone Gabrielle the farm “opened its doors” to help displaced Muriwai residents shelter and two families whose homes had been redstickered lived in the property’s farmhouses rent-free for some time.
“That again was something where the owner just said, ‘what can we do for the community?’ They [the displaced residents] could not have afforded to go elsewhere and pay rent while their house was redstickered,” Brandeburg said.
Local iwi, the Muriwai community, the Muriwai Golf Club and Muriwai Surf Club had been supportive.
“Basically what we said was if the community was against it we’re not going to do it, but frankly we’ve had fantastic community support.”
The Muriwai Golf Club recognised that golfers coming to play and stay at the farm were likely to also go a few kilometres down the road to play a second course at the beach.
“The idea is to get people out to Muriwai and experience everything there is to offer. We’re only going to rise the tide for everybody.”