1 week Ago By Hibiscus Matters
Rick Martin, who has been a developer for around 30 years, says his days in the business are over. Martin is well known on the Hibiscus Coast for a range of projects, perhaps most controversially The Nautilus apartments in Ōrewa which proved to have serious structural issues. Martin sold the building he owned directly in front of The Nautilus, at 7 Tamariki Ave, to Optimal Fire and FR Coatings, who moved into the building in recent weeks.
He had planned to develop the site, obtaining resource consent last year to demolish the existing building and replace it with a five storey block comprising 55 short-term visitor accommodation units One of Optimal Fire and FR Coatings directors, Andries Gouws, says the company will let that resource consent lapse. He says the company, formerly based in Silverdale, is mainly comprised of locals and wants the Ōrewa building as a base for its operations. It hopes to fill the building with a cohesive mix of tenants.
“We are not developers, but the building gives us options for the future if we need them,” Gouws says. Martin says he was pleased to sell 7 Tamariki Ave and, with it, bring his time as a developer to a close. He did not give details about what he plans to do next.
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