PHOTO: OLIVIA HEMUS Simon Herbert, right, with wife Paula at a BMW car launch in 2011.
A millionaire property developer wants to build apartments on prime waterfront land owned by Auckland ratepayers. A council controlled organisation seems exceptionally eager to make the sale. Steve Kilgallon reports.
There’s a problem in West Harbour, a sleepy harbourside suburb 18km from Auckland CBD. Visitors have begun turning up at the local marina thinking they’ve arrived to view the twee delights of Hobsonville Point, some 5km away.
It’s the result of the Westpark Marina being re-branded as Hobsonville Marina, at the request of the company leasing it. It’s one of a remarkable series of concessions made by Auckland Council to wealthy developer Simon Herbert, the man who wants permission to build up to 500 apartments, some 18m tall, at the marina (and at several other marinas around the city).
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