By ANNE GIBSON
Krukziener Properties has won the first round in its legal challenge against AMP's proposals to build a $171 million 34-level tower on Auckland's waterfront.
In a conference at the High Court in Auckland yesterday morning, Andrew Krukziener succeeded in having a date set down for a hearing.
A four-day fixture has been granted, starting on August 7 in front of Judge Paterson.
The first defendant is the Auckland City Council, which granted AMP resource consent to build its skyscraper. The second defendant is AMP.
Daniel Henderson, property manager for Krukziener Properties, said the case rested on his company's objection to the planning process. This has allowed AMP the right to build the tower, which will have 31 levels of office and retail space, but a podium on top which takes it up to 34 levels.
AMP has already started building and is in the process of demolishing the Downtown Convention Centre and Airline Terminal on the corner of Albert and Quay Sts. It has erected construction headquarters on the site and will soon lay foundations.
When the matter went before the High Court yesterday, the discovery date was set for June 23 and all affidavits have to be with the court by July 21.
Auckland barrister Mark Cooper is representing Krukziener. The council has Simpson Grierson's Bill Loutit and Wendy Embling. AMP is represented by Russell McVeigh's Mary Peters and Balthazar Matheson.
Mr Krukziener has described the tower as "particularly ugly" and has sought a judicial review of the resource consents for the development.
These were granted in November last year on a non-notified basis.
Mr Henderson said only three "affected parties" were contacted by the council for their comments on the proposal to build the tower.
These were the owners of the Copthorne Hotel, Quay Tower - owned by AMP - and the Downtown Shopping Centre, owned by Westfield.
He expressed dismay that Number 1 Queen St, owned by Krukziener Properties, was not considered to be an affected party, since the building is across Albert St from AMP's development.
"The Auckland City Council officers' reports make interesting reading," he said, noting that in many cases the officers recommended that the development should be notified so that any interested party could have a say in proceedings.
"But the process that occurred instead was that AMP was granted resource consent."
Acknowledging that Mr Krukziener has "his own personal views on the aesthetics of the building," Mr Henderson said serious planning issues were involved "in terms of the whole process, the Resource Management Act and council records."
While the legal challenge is yet to be heard, AMP has been busy renting the building. It has leased 54 per cent of its floor space to three anchor tenants: accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers, lawyers Buddle Findlay and ANZ Bank.
AMP tower hearing in August
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