Upmarket residential redevelopment mooted to replace waterfront motel site
What is believed to be the largest remaining privately-owned block of land overlooking Orewa beach in the seaside suburb
just north of Auckland has been placed on the market for sale.
The property at 387 – 391 Hibiscus Coast Highway is a rectangular-shaped 3851 square metre landholding adjacent to
Kinloch Reserve, and has been ‘flagged’ as a prime location for a high-end intensive housing development.
The site – zoned mixed housing suburban and residential single house under the Auckland Unitary Plan - currently houses
the 16-unit Edgewater Motel which has been operating from the site for more than three decades.
What is believed to be the largest remaining privately-owned block of land overlooking Orewa beach in the seaside suburb
just north of Auckland has been placed on the market for sale.
However, Auckland Council’s mixed housing suburban zoning permits the building of a more intensified dwelling
configuration – such as apartments. The Hibiscus Coast Highway land was last year granted resource consent for a 35-unit
residential development – with the consent transferrable to any new land owner.
The consent for 387 – 391 Hibiscus Coast Highway allows for the construction of a four-storey luxury apartment
development, with an additional level of underground basement car parking.
The property is being marketed for sale by tender through Bayleys Orewa, with tenders closing at 4pm on April 26. The
marketing is being overseen by Bayleys Orewa salespeople Simon Wilde, Lynnette Thomas, and Chris Bayley of Bayleys
Auckland.
Mr Wilde said the beachfront landholding encompassed four separate titles – meaning that while the mixed housing
suburban zoning allowed for an intensive medium-rise development opportunity, the property might also be subdivided into
smaller sections capable of sustaining individual stand-alone or terraced home development. Other options for the
property could include retirement living, daycare, a timeshare development, or redevelopment of the existing motel.
“Whatever the future use intentions of any potential new owner, the existing commercial accommodation premises operating
from the site will deliver holding income over any intervening period,” he said.
“In addition to the transfer of the resource consent, any potential sale of the land would include the existing
consented development plans for the site. In effect, the initial preparatory phase of hard work has been completed and
is ready to be handed over to a developer.”
The current owners of 387 – 391 Hibiscus Coast Highway are also the operators of the Edgewater Motel business.
The Edgewater’s inventory consists of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, and two free-standing family options.
The property also has a separate manager’s residence.
Ms Thomas said there was the option of either continuing the Edgewater Motel’s operations long-term as a business
investment, or alternatively offering a new short to mid-term management contract to an experienced accommodation
operator while a development programme was firmed up.
She said the blueprint for any mid-rise residential development on the Edgewater Motel site was clearly evident at the
Ocean Point Apartment complex directly across Kinloch Reserve.
Ocean Point Apartments is a four-storey residential complex containing 28 luxury units in a configuration of two and
three-bedroom homes, along with two penthouses, and a pair of duplex dwellings. The block was completed in 2015 – with
lower level residences selling since then for upward of $1,095,000, and for up to $3 million plus for apartments on the
upper floors.
Ms Thomas said Orewa and the surrounding Hibiscus Coast region were experiencing significant population growth, and the
Hibiscus Coast Highway property underpinned an outstanding opportunity to capitalise on this.