New 600-vehicle Sylvia Park block to open ready for Christmas

A new 600-space car parking building opens tomorrow at New Zealand's largest retail centre, ready for the Christmas rush.

Kiwi Property has developed the five-level block at the eastern end of its Sylvia Park shopping centre in Mt Wellington, near the railway line.

The carpark block has been developed near the railway station at Sylvia Park.

The new Xiaomi store which opened there this month generated queues on opening day and for some years, shoppers have complained of a carparking shortage at the centre.

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Construction of the $36.3m building started last April. Seven electric vehicle charging stations, five parents' and 12 accessible spaces have been provided.

From mid-2020, the carpark block will also provide access to the new Galleria level, now under construction, Kiwi said.

Kiwi has also developed a new 10-level $80m office block at the park. IAG has leased two and a half floors for 12 years. ANZ Bank has leased five and a half floors from next June. It has a nine-year lease.

Construction of the new level-one galleria shopping expansion started in March and is due to be completed around the middle of 2020. Farmers will occupy part of that, with a ground-floor and level-one store, accessed via a new escalator.

A pre-leasing programme is underway, Kiwi said in its results presentation this month. Kmart has leased the ex-Countdown supermarket space at Sylvia Park.

One of the company's key priorities for its 2019 financial year is to continue to advance "our mixed-use vision" at Sylvia Park which will eventually have a big residential component as well via apartment towers.

Sylvia Park was valued at $891.9m as at September 30. It has 78,215sq m of net lettable area, up on its 74,000 as at March this year. But it generated the same amount of rental income - $21.4m - in the September 30, 2018 half-year as at the September 30, 2017 half-year.