Two cream and brown apartment blocks towards the centre and right are planned for the Epsom site at 74 and 80 Great South Rd. Photo / Consent application
Two cream and brown apartment blocks towards the centre and right are planned for the Epsom site at 74 and 80 Great South Rd. Photo / Consent application
The board of New Zealand’s wealthiest secondary school is planning to develop two nine-level apartment blocks opposite its own site in the heart of Epsom, offering 191 rental units.
The Dilworth Trust Board’s plans for the blocks between the SH1 motorway and Great South Rd have been notified for publicinput up till Friday.
The resource consent application by the board seeks consent to develop the two sites of 4170sq m or nearly half a hectare as a build to rent mixed-use development.
The proposal is for 191 apartments, ground floor commercial units and extensive communal areas. The proposal includes car parking at a ratio of 0.4 per dwelling, bike parking, infrastructure works, earthworks and landscaping.
A motel now stands on the site, with extensive carparking around it.
How the two blocks at 80 Great South Rd could look once Dilworth completes the build to rent project. Photo / Auckland Council
The intention is to transform a dated motel and vacant site at 76 to 80 Great South Rd into a new residential community to be held and managed by Dilworth Trust Board as rental accommodation.
“Specifically designed for long term tenancy, build to rent offers residents the flexibility and convenience of renting, coupled with the security of tenure usually associated with home ownership. This hasn’t been seen at scale yet in New Zealand but is a common asset class overseas,” the board said.
Jasmax designed the two nine-level buildings and car parking is to be in the basement on Mauranui Rd.
Its net asset base reached $1.074b, according to its accounts for the year to July 2021, comprising $756m in largely Auckland investment properties and another $130m in managed fund holdings.
How the Dilworth twin blocks could look from SH1. Photo / Auckland Council
At this scale Dilworth is enormously rich in New Zealand terms, having more than three times the net assets of King’s College, the next richest school on the list.
Internationally, Dilworth’s asset base is now larger than even the United Kingdom’s historic and posh Eton College.
But the board is also grappling with how to respond - both financially and legally - to fallout from the Royal Commission on Abuse in Care and recent criminal prosecutions of some former staff over historic abuse.
On its twin-tower project, the application to the council says that Great South Rd land forms part of a wider property portfolio owned and managed by Dilworth.
Revenue from this portfolio goes directly towards funding the operations of Dilworth School, founded by early Auckland farmer and businessman, James Dilworth.
The endowment was to be used to fund a boarding school for boys whose circumstances may prevent them from fulfilling their full potential. For over a century, this legacy has provided more than 5000 boys with a life-changing scholarship that includes free tuition, boarding, uniforms, sports fees and music tuition.
Students are offered a multitude of opportunities, a strong pastoral care system and quality teaching for boys from Year 9 to Year 13.
How the planned Dilworth build-to-rent apartments could look once finished. Photo / Auckland Council
“Today, the operations of the school are largely funded by the investment property returns. A large portion of the portfolio is still located on James Dilworth’s original farm in the Newmarket/ Epsom area. The applicant’s investment property team have been tasked with growing the returns to support the growing operational costs of the school, including increasing the roll,” the application says.
To do this, land holdings that are no longer on ground leases like the site for the towers have become redevelopment opportunities, with the objective to maximise the highest and best use combined with continued long-term hold, it said.
“This land has been held by Dilworth for over 100 years and the intention is to retain it indefinitely as part of the core portfolio. The build-to-rent project proposed as part of this application aligns with this objective, and will provide long-term, sustainable income to the applicant which will fund the ongoing operations of Dilworth School,” the application says.
Build to rent is becoming increasingly popular: Kiwi Property Group has a $200m project under way at Sylvia Park to bring 295 new units to land beside its Mt Wellington shopping centre/office precinct.
The three blocks up to 12 levels will be rented in perpetuity, providing what chief executive Clive Mackenzie describes as “a place to set roots”, and where he wants people to live long-term, bucking the instability that is often a feature of our residential rental market.
NZ Living’s Shane and Anna Brealey and default KiwiSaver manager Simplicity plan 10,000 new BTR places worth $5 billion in the next decade in Auckland, Tauranga and Wellington.
Greg and Helen Reidy’s Reidy & Co and Kim Barrett’s Haydn & Rollett have launched Resident Properties to develop BTR apartments in Auckland, projecting the development of $210m worth of units.
New Ground Capital, founded in 2014, has pioneered BTR here, developing more than 600 new places.
Some politicians also love the idea of build to rent. National plans to address housing shortages with a multi-pronged strategy that includes a big BTR push. Chris Bishop, National’s housing spokesman, spoke at this year’s Property Council residential conference where he announced details of a proposed move to encourage more BTR development.
Council-controlled organisation Eke Panuku, Cedar Pacific and McConnell Property announced a big new BTR scheme in central Takapuna recently too.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 23 years, has won many awards, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
