Mark Thomson, commercial manager at Auckland Airport. is at Mānawa Bay, discusses the new premium discount outlet on airport land.
New airport premier outlet retail centre open 7 days, 10am-7pm.
At 4 Jimmy Ward Cres, off Nixon Rd, Auckland Airport.
118 retail outlets: 113 pre-committedalready.
School-style public drinking fountains to cut water bottle sales, child-sized toilets and hand basins, and an outdoor playground whose hill is covered in Nike Grind - three features of Auckland Airport’s new $200 million Mānawa Bay premium outlet centre.
Chief commercial officer Mark Thomson, retail headLucy Thomas and centre manager Linh Luong took the Herald on a tour of the 36,000sq m mall with 24,000sq m of net-lettable area.
Thomas pointed out the fresh-water drinking fountains, mini-loos and playground off the food court, where recycled shoes are ground up to make child-friendly matting.
Brutalist architecture at its best: Mānawa Bay has very little glazing in its design. Photo / Auckland Airport
In a feature to deter crime, this centre has hardly any glazing.
Its walls comprise brutalist steel-reinforced thick concrete slabs. Metal bollards and concrete-boxed gardens stand guard between the carpark and the building’s two main entry points to the north and south.
The airport people didn’t want to talk much about anti-crime features.
But they acknowledged that was certainly considered in the architectural design by Australia’s TRCB working with New Zealand’s Eclipse and that police had visited to give feedback.
The single-level mall has vast 7.8m-wide public walkways but those also host some solid central features.
In a seemingly impossible feat during the retail downturn, most of the new shops and food outlets are leased: 90 of the 118 are operating now but all up, 113 are pre-committed.
Mānawa Bay, owned by Auckland Airport, where roads were still congested on Monday. Photo / Michael Craig
“What we have achieved is phenomenal,” said Thomas, who works with a team of 15 on the terminals’ existing 200 retail outlets, now increased by a further 118 outlets with Mānawa Bay finished.
Colliers assisted the airport in the leasing campaigns.
Under-table handbag hooks and power outlets to recharge phones are features of the food court, which has about 470 seats. Luggage storage lockers cater for travellers.
Auckland Airport chief commercial officer Mark Thomson at the new centre on Monday. Photo / Michael Craig
“People said they wanted to be able to recharge phones,” Thomas said.
The centre, built by Savory Construction, opened last Thursday - and it has caused major traffic problems.
Thomson said the airport company had plans to handle high traffic volumes.
Not much glazing but stands of bollards and concrete wall-framed gardens - anti-crime features at Mānawa Bay. Photo / Auckland Airport
The centre had 2000 dedicated car parks but the airport had utilised a further six separate parking lots it owns to boost that number to 4500 in the four-day opening period from last Thursday to Sunday.
How will Mānawa Bay stop people taking advantage of free mall parking, then walking to the terminals?
Thomson said that had been carefully considered. The mall shuts at 7pm and management expects no vehicles to be in the carpark beyond that time each day. If vehicles are there, they run the risk of being towed promptly, bosses told the Herald.
The airport had carefully planned transport, he said, referring to the Airport Link orange bus and Auckland Transport’s public bus planner.
First-to-New Zealand stores include Lindt, Ariat, Hoka, Guess and Timeless Watches. Thomas said a key to the leasing was getting three major anchor tenants: Nike, Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger.
Thomson said the Nike store, at 1500sq m, is New Zealand’s largest outlet store for this brand.
Kate Spade, Michael Kors, Swarovski, Assembly Label and Helly Hansen had opened their first outlet stores at the centre. Politix, Ugg, Huffer, Dr Marten, Canterbury, Flo & Frankie, Bed Bath & Beyond, Lorna Jane, Bendon, Adidas, Coach, Country Road, Decjuba and Connor are other brands.
New Zealand brands include Michael Hill, Canterbury, Barkers, Flo & Frankie, Glassons, Hallensteins, Huffer, Icebreaker, Max and Mountain Jade.
Food operators include Australian restaurant group Soul Origin debuting a new location, Tank, Majestic Tea Bar and Wucha, Needo, HK Station, Tran’s Kitchen, Ko Ko Dak, Shamiana, Better Burger, Bistro Box, Hikari, St Pierre’s Sushi, Dunkin’ and Songbird.
Mānawa Bay where 750 people work. Photo / Auckland Airport
Why does the airport want such a big mall?
Thomson cited Australia’s successful, popular DFO [originally Discount Factory Outlet] chain as an example of what Auckland Airport hoped to achieve with Mānawa Bay.
People have time around airports and often want to use that to shop and eat, he said, hence lockable suitcase and baggage storage lockers to free up people to gaze and graze.
About 90% of all international flights from New Zealand are via Auckland Airport, so that means millions of visitors annually in the area.
Other similar international shopping outlets close to airports are Perth DFO, Brisbane DFO, Essendon DFO, Moorabin DFO near Melbourne and McArthurGlen Designer Outlet at Vancouver Airport, Thomson said.
Wide 7.5m aisles at Mānawa Bay shopping centre, with walkways taking shoppers in a giant circle across the many hectares of floorspace. Photo / Michael Craig
How environmentally friendly is the new mall?
A 5-star Green Star design rating was achieved for the mall’s plans, making this “the first dedicated shopping centre to receive a Green Star rating for its design”, the airport spokesperson said.
An extensive rooftop solar system, which has been installed and once fully operational will inject 2.3 megawatts of renewable electricity into the grid a year. Thomson stressed the energy was being fed back into the grid, but if it was used to power the mall, those solar panels were capable of generating about 80% of electricity needs.
The mall has a zero-gas policy aiming to eliminate up to 57% of greenhouse gas emissions from its kitchens.
Why that name?
Mānawa is one of the kupu te reo Māori for mangroves. These dot the water surrounding the land where the mall has been built.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
