Builder named for $200m Auckland apartment conversion job

A building contractor has been appointed to work on an Auckland project where one of US president Donald Trump's top advisers has been reported as buying a $15 million penthouse.

After announcing the $200 million The International apartment project around May 4 last year, Gary Groves of Sanctuary Group has today named Dominion Constructors as having signed the contract to deliver the project on Princes St beside the Northern Club near Waterloo Quadrant in the central business district.

Trump adviser Chris Liddell has been reported as having bought the entire top floor of the yet-to-be-converted ex-office block for $15m.

Last October, Groves said: "If anything is going ahead, this is. We've got Fletchers to build it. We've got finance."

However, he said a few weeks ago that a new contractor would be announced.

"We can now officially confirm that Dominion Constructors have come on board and the letter of offer has been agreed and signed," a spokeswoman for Groves said this morning.

"Dominion Constructors, part of the Russell Group of companies, has a highly skilled project management team with more than 200 years collective experience. It is a family-run, 100 per cent New Zealand-owned company that has been around for more than 40 years. Its key point of difference to other large construction companies is that Dominion self-perform the structural and carpentry trades," she said.

How The International could look when finished.

Dominion had now established its site office at 9 Princes St.

"Demolition is nearly finished and The International is on track for completion as planned in the second quarter of 2018.

An image of a planned bedroom at The International in Auckland.

"Market interest in high value apartments is very strong. One of the sub-penthouses has just gone unconditional for a value of over $5m, or $25,000 per square metre," she said.

Groves confirmed the penthouse sale but said he could not reveal who had bought it.