Property developer took marine precinct idea to council, newly released documents show

Tauranga City Council has released a range of previously private documents and agendas from closed-door meetings relating to the controversial sale of the marine precinct.

The sale of the precinct has been halted at the eleventh hour a week ago after current users filed an injunction.

The High Court granted an interim injunction, which prevented the sale from being completed, Mayor Mahé Drysdale said in a statement.

The council was also served with judicial review proceedings that raised concerns about the council's processes relating to the transaction.

It was seeking information and legal advice, Drysdale said.

Here's some of what RNZ has learnt from those documents.

A property developer brought the deal to the council

On 2 August 2023, council's chief executive Marty Grenfell met with developer Rupert Curry and discussed development opportunities in the city.

A couple of weeks later, Curry travelled with Christchurch developer Sam Rofe to Tauranga to show Rofe the marine precinct.

The land has never been advertised by the council as being for sale on the open market.

On 21 August, Curry wrote to Grenfell saying the two "have a bit of a vision with this undeveloped site as detailed in his email below, If [sic] of interest would you be keen to meet Sam?"

Grenfell said he would be "very happy" to meet Rofe.

Council knew the process was risky

When taking options to the commissioners, a public-excluded council agenda from 8 April 2024 recommended a "direct, non-competitive negotiation and divestment process with Sam Rofe" despite noting the risk that council might be challenged for not providing an open process and that it meant council wouldn't really know what the market value for the land was.

The report had a second option, going to open market to sell the land, but felt there would be a risk that Rofe might withdraw his offer and council might in turn not get another favourable one.

Council obtained two valuations of the land - Rofe's offer was much lower

Council obtained a valuation of the land in July 2023, followed by a second valuation in December of that year.

When including improvements to the land the midpoint valuation was $22.144 million.

A public-excluded council agenda from 8 April 2024, said that "the purchaser has agreed to align his offer with the valuation mid-point data".

25 Hikuwai Place, valued at $6.963m was excluded from the sale and Rofe was "not willing to pay the harbour front premium" of $3.3m " that was included in one of the valuations "as his view is that this is appropriate for residential but not an industrial precinct".

The land was sold to Rofe for $13m.

The council could have consulted on the sale - but didn't

As part of the 2021-2031 Long-Term Plan (LTP) Amendment, council talked about the potential sale of non-core council assets to fund the new civic precinct in the city centre, Te Manawataki o Te Papa.

The marine precinct was specifically mentioned as one of the assets that might be considered for sale. It was noted that it was likely further consultation would be undertaken with key stakeholders prior to any disposal.

However, the public-excluded council agenda from 8 April 2024 said that the marine precinct was not considered a strategic asset so its sale did not need to go through the LTP consultation process.

The report said it did consult with two stakeholders, but did not name them.

It also said that in 2022 the council had engaged consultants to look at future options for the marine precinct, which included possible sale or lease, and that could be considered as consulting with the community.

"In short, council can decide that no further consultation is required," the report said.