The $14 million question: Why sell this prime land before the Auckland Council is installed?

On one of the busiest intersections in the region, small commercial vehicles rumble by, a constant thrum. The roundabout at the corner of Bush and Paul Matthews roads is a teeming causeway of commerce.
Here, at this crossing, is 3.8ha of prime commercial real estate that North Shore City Council hopes to sell before it - and its councillors - are consigned to history.
Council property officer Stuart Bagley, who confirms the pending sale of 8 Paul Matthews Rd, expects high interest from would-be buyers once an agent is commissioned to sell the asset.
"It's been some time since a large area of business-zoned land of this kind has been on offer," he says.
The property is the base for two of the largest contractors to North Shore City Council - Bilfinger Berger Ltd and Fulton Hogan.
The council has discussed the sale an unknown  number of times. Unknown because the matter has been concealed in confidential segments of council meetings under vague headings such as "Priorities for Projects Update".
Yet the true story behind the Priorities for Projects Update can be revealed in a request - obtained by The Aucklander - from the council to the Auckland Transition Agency:
"North Shore City is requesting from the ATA confirmation of the ability for the Council to go ahead with the sale of the land and buildings owned by NSC Holdings Ltd, being its prime asset. The funds from the sale of the land and buildings will be utilised to purchase relevant community assets ... such as parkland."
The agency rubber-stamped the request.
The request notes that on June 30, 2009, the land and buildings were valued at $10.5 million. It also points out that income from the land and buildings for the 2008-09 year was $743,000. Income is also believed to have accrued to about $3 million in the NSC Holdings account.
The reference to using the money from the sale for "parkland" is significant for a couple of reasons.
First, North Shore City Council has a policy of using any money from the sale of assets to pay off its burdensome debt - already at $400 million and predicted to top $700 million in 10 years.
This is not mentioned in the request to the transition agency. Indeed, the confirmation request further mentions the "sale proceeds being used to purchase relevant
community assets".
Second, the council has embarked on this sale despite the impending merger of all the region's councils this year. In fact, North Shore is selling the land because of the amalgamation.
A draft of the council's annual plan for the four months to 31 October is under discussion this week. It points out that proceeds from land sales could be used for purposes other than servicing debt "because of the current environment".
Further, confidential briefings to the council raise doubts about the use of the property after amalgamation.
Third, The Aucklander contacted the Long Bay-Okura Great Park Society, which has a financial membership of 800 members who seek to extend the parklands in the north of the city.
Convenor Chris Bettany knew nothing of the Albany land sale, nor the potential windfall for parkland projects. "We'd be very interested in hearing more about that."
Whether the society hears anything is largely up to the council. In the request to the transition agency, the council describes the matter as "confidential, although the sale of the land will be a transparent public process".
The Aucklander referred to the rash of asset sales when editor Ewan McDonald and chief reporter Edward Rooney appeared before Parliament's select committee on the third bill
setting up the Auckland Council last week.
Our suggestion that some councils and councillors may be finding ways to finance pet projects before they go out of power - and that the transition agency was blithely ticking off the process without too many questions - clearly surprised the MPs.