Auckland’s residential push has drawn international attention; new 303-room CBD Auckland hotel opens on Thursday while new suburban hotel opened in March; problems at an East Tamaki site which drew Environment Court urgent orders are explained by one of the parties involved.
Property Insider: Auckland named a Yimby City; new local art in Horizon by SkyCity; Mt Roskill’s Soho Hotel opens; East Tāmaki site stability problems explained
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Forget calling us a bunch of Nimbys. Now, we’re “Yimbys”.
The city has been named a ‘yes in my backyard’ one for politicians adjusting planning measures to get more homes built and stop rents from escalating as fast as they were.
The Economist this month compared us to Austin, the Texan city also subjected to planning changes.
“Alongside Auckland in New Zealand, Austin has become a test case for housing deregulation.”
For Yimbys, activists who say “yes in my backyard” to development, reforms in the cities are shining examples to be followed elsewhere, The Economist reported in an article headlined “Yimby cities show how to build homes and contain rents”.
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More permissive Auckland planning approaches, including special housing areas, were noted.
Rents hadn’t fallen but they had grown more slowly than elsewhere in New Zealand. Homes tend to be smaller and research from Associate Professor Ryan Greenaway-McGrevy of the University of Auckland was cited.
He found Census 2023 showed Auckland got an extra 64,000 new homes between 2018 and 2023, up nearly 12%, while population growth was only 5%.
It was heartening to see so much growth in a city which has for decades had a critical housing shortage, Ryan Greenaway-McGrevy said.
The 2016 Auckland Unitary Plan’s up-zoning spurred intensification by rezoning much residential land for higher-density housing, he noted.
New hotel, new art
The new Horizon by SkyCity hotel at 85 Hobson St opening on Thursday has a collection of commissioned art.
A company brochure describes 27 pieces, from a table to a tiled wall 30m long to a ceiling, while there are sculptures all through the hotel, much of it on public display.
“Artwork has been selected by Furnz, which worked closely with these New Zealand artists to curate many of the pieces specifically for the hotel,” SkyCity said in a brochure with details about each work and the artists.
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Sophie Beever, Furnz design principal, did SkyCity’s soft fit-out interior design.
Alex Buckman designed the distinctive lobby, reception and suite lights. All artists are named in the brochure.
Suburban hotel opened four months ago
A new seven-level Auckland suburban hotel opened on March 7, its owner saying he didn’t want to blow his trumpet too soon on the substantial development in a residential area on Stoddard Rd.
Soho Hotel Auckland owner-developer Dennis Parbhu of IPG Corporation said the hotel had an initial soft opening then but is now fully up and running.
General manager Duncan Mackenzie said the hotel was 10 to 15 minutes from the airport and the CBD so was well-positioned.
It is also the closest big hotel to Eden Park to cater to sports fans.
Parbhu said it is aimed at business and tourists, particularly families with children and people driving from Tauranga or Rotorua.
They preferred a suburban location, he said.
The hotel has 126 rooms and suites and is run by Capstone Hotel Management.
Clare Davies, Capstone managing director, said the hotel had an art-deco design theme.
Parbhu said he had not previously sought publicity due to the “horrid” economic times and the project finishing.
The hotel is at 180-182 Stoddard Rd. Auckland Council values that at $7.4 million but Parbhu said that was before the hotel was built, and the property was worth much more than that now.
Asked why he had built in such a suburban area, Parbhu said: “There’s no point in picking hot locations like Queen St in the CBD, Grey Lynn, Newmarket or the airport because they have reached their capacity. I know to pick on locations where the flowers are about to come, like on a plant. This area is dead central geographically in Auckland.”
Occupancy figures and end value were not figures he could disclose, he said, but he was happy with how the property is trading in in its initial bedding-in phase.
Lessee explains land stability issues
Gareth Paul Williams of Eco Earth NZ said land he leased and which was the subject of urgent stabilisation court orders this month was in “a deplorable state” when he took on 28 Smales Rd, East Tāmaki about 12 months ago. The site backs on to the Greenmount Landfill.
Williams said he was not informed about the issues with the site before he took on the lease. That includes problems with the neighbours getting access to the site to remove the fill, he complained.
The Environment Court issued a decision this month in favour of the applicant, Auckland Council, and against respondents Williams, Eco Earth NZ, of which he is the sole director, and property owner New Zealand New Oak Property, owned by Jie Qing Li and Linwai Li.
The council went to court on July 4 against the three to get interim urgent enforcement orders at the site.
Parties must immediately cordon off the area within 5m of the toe of a retaining wall to prevent access by vehicles or people until appropriate site stability works were completed.
Environment Court Judge Melinda Dickey said a construction plant parked at the top of the slope must stay back at least 10m from the edge. Drainage must be installed and the current fill profile battered back. Site stability works were ordered and the council must be told of that via photographs of the completed works. No earthworks can take place on the site until the erosion and sediment control works are completed.
Most of the site’s southern boundary is shared with a Mobil service station, which operates beside a car dealership, Judge Dickey said.
Significant earthworks came to the council’s attention last October, the decision said, yet there was no consent granted.
There was potential for adverse effects to arise from the failure to install appropriate erosion and sediment controls and the site where the stockpile was positioned was unstable. Threats were to the Mobile service station and a car dealership beneath the slope, the decision said.
“On the evidence available to me, I am in no doubt that the slope located along the site boundary, which is shared with a Mobil service station (30 Smales Rd) and a car dealer (36 Smales Rd), is over-steep and gives rise to concerns as to its potential failure, which may impact structures on those properties. There is also potential risk to pedestrians, which necessitates the cordoning-off of the area,” the judge said in her decision.
But Williams said after publicity in this column this month, he wanted to explain more about what had occurred.
“The council was aware of the property’s situation back in April 2023, not October,” he said, disputing evidence presented to the court.
“We discussed the consent process and removal timeframe in April on-site with them directly, as well as the sediment issue,” he said.
“Our concerns were about the lack of an active drainage line, which were raised with the landlord and estate agent – yet no immediate action was taken, which then ran the risk of Eco Earth not being able to move at all on the property.”
Eco Earth had incurred costs of more than $350,000 related to waste removal, temporary drainage lines and necessary repairs, Williams complained.
“We have not received any compensation. We inherited this problem but didn’t create it.”
He takes responsibility for Eco Earth’s actions but not for other parties, he says.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
