Property Insider: Neighbours upset about unconsented Victoria Park restaurant Milenta; Precinct apartment plans notified

Members of Victoria Park Markets’ body corporate are upset about Milenta restaurant in a public courtyard beneath a protected tree, but the landlord says he has sought retrospective consent and the restaurant brings more people to the area; over at Mt Eden, Precinct’s plans for 135 new apartments up to five levels have been notified.

The operation of a 40-seat Auckland restaurant has caused a stir among some in the heritage precinct opposite Victoria Park in the city’s west side.

Milenta restaurant in Victoria Park Markets has traded since early 2022, but it is only now that its retrospective resource consent application has been notified to the public.

VPM Investments sought the consent for the dining venue at 210-218 Victoria St West.

Milenta, the restaurant in Auckland's Victoria Park Markets that neighbours have complained about. Auckland Council notified its retrospective consent application.

The application says that since February 2021, consultation had been undertaken with the council’s heritage staff and Heritage New Zealand over the restaurant.

That is because the restaurant is in the historically significant markets.

But others in the precinct are unhappy it traded without resource consent and since 2022, have asked that the restaurant go.

Through lawyers Glaister Ennor, the markets’ body corporate wrote to Grigori Koulanov and Alena Goloulina, of VPM Investments, saying the restaurant “has not been lawfully established”, although Koulanov challenges that.

Milenta, the restaurant, is in a courtyard at Victoria Park Markets. Its owners want a retrospective resource consent.

Nor was it fully compliant with building laws. That was a breach of obligations and the body corporate also complained the restaurant’s deck was to be available for public access, but was restricted to restaurant patrons.

The letter sought the restaurant “cease trading immediately”.

Barfoot & Thompson managing director Peter Thompson also expressed disquiet about the situation and said his firm had severed all ties with the markets’ body corporate.

The agency terminated its 10-year body corporate management and property management relationships in August, Thompson said.

Milenta was one reason.

“The irregularities in relation to a non-consented structure on the property was a factor in our decision to relinquish the roles. The Milenta restaurant was built by the unit holder. Under instructions from the body corporate, Barfoot & Thompson communicated with the unit owner, as did the body corporate solicitors, in relation to the lack of building consents for the restaurant,” he explained.

The agency also also communicated with Auckland Council to ensure it was aware of the situation, he said.

VPM’s Koulanov, the restaurant landlord, said he was a New Zealand entrepreneur, investor and business owner aiming to bring new life to the markets with Milenta.

“We are continuing to work with the council and Heritage NZ and consult with other stakeholders as part of the consenting process,” he said.

Victoria Park Market had a $20 million revamp done in 2014. Photo / Dean Purcell

Milenta had become popular and well patronised since VPM’s tenant opened during the pandemic, Koulanov said.

It was designed as a deck and garden bar built in natural timber, but the fit-out had since been expanded.

His next step is to engage with arborists and engineers to examine the pōhutukawa adjacent to Milenta and the long-term condition of the bank it grows from beneath Drake St.

“I have invested in Victoria Park Market since 2016, when I purchased some sites from the previous owner. Before the establishment of Milenta, the site had a series of unsuccessful tenants and the courtyard was an underutilised space and a location in which some homeless persons would set up. It was not a healthy environment or a drawcard for economic or pro-social activity. We aim to make it a space that Aucklanders can be proud of once again, mindful that it is not a residential area and it is one among many commercial premises servicing businesses and patrons of various kinds,” Koulanov said.

It was disappointing to see objections in the spirit of “not in my backyard” that seek to stifle legitimate and productive economic activity that would make Auckland a better place to live, he said.

Patrons said the restaurant had brought people back to the market, Koulanov said.

Other tenants expressed their support for the restaurant due to the patronage.

One neighbour told the Herald the restaurant should never have opened. The retrospective resource consent application referred to a temporary restaurant.

Milenta was designed as a deck and garden bar built in natural timber, but the fit-out has since been expanded. Photo / Babiche Martens

“What is currently constructed is hardly temporary,” that neighbour complained.

Black smoke was vented through the protected tree canopy and filled the market area on days where there was no wind, the neighbour said. The restaurant has been built under the drip-line of protected/listed trees, something that Heritage New Zealand and the council’s arborists said was not to happen.

“If the protected trees die due to the drip-line or smoke issues we refer to above, the historic bank and Drake St will be prone to collapsing into the market without significant retaining,” the neighbour said.

The courtyard area of Victoria Park is there to be shared by the public and owners within Victoria Park.

“But having a smelly, noisy, rickety, unconsented eyesore in the middle of a heritage precinct and putting the life of protected trees in jeopardy would be reckless being approved by Auckland Council. We request the resource consent be rejected, Milenta shut down and removed leaving what should be a courtyard being able to be shared by the general public,” the neighbour said.

Oysters on the menu at Milenta in Victoria Park. Photo / Babiche Martens

But Duncan Ross, of planning business Civix, put the other side: “The restaurant is bringing a lot of positivity to a space that was dying and the longer we can create economic benefits and draw people into the space which benefits the restaurant itself, the wider Vic Park Precinct and other businesses established in the precinct tenancies, the better I would have thought.”

Civix said the restaurant was only temporary, the site flat and in a “vacant courtyard” and the planners asked for Milenta’s building “to be legitimised”.

Submissions on the consent are open until November 29.

Mt Eden apartment scheme notified

Precinct Properties' plans for this Mt Eden site have been notified.

Talking of notified consents, Precinct Properties’ application to build 135 apartments and five commercial outlets on ex-Eke Panuku land is up for public input.

That process closes next month.

Plans for 198-202 and 214-222 Dominion Rd and 113-117 Valley Rd are now notified.

That means people have until December 6 to tell the council what they think.

Precinct Properties' plans for the Mt Eden apartments and five commercial units. Photo / Barker & Associates

Resource consent is sought for the demolition of existing buildings including character-supporting buildings.

Consent is also sought for the construction of a mixed-use development of 135 apartments and five commercial tenancies.

The proposal involves several development standard and rule infringements, hence notification.

Barker & Associates did the assessment of environmental effects and had images of how the scheme could look in its present form.

Plans are for 104 car parks, 98 cycle parks and digging 3m where rock is anticipated. Rock breaking of 1700sq m is planned.

Documents give far more detail than what we have seen previously of the scheme, although the Urban Design Panel has made recommendations, particularly for the Valley Rd side of the project.

“The panel considers that the three-storey portion of the Valley Rd building should be further refined, particularly in relation to the western elevation,” the application noted.

Barker said these matters had been considered and, where applicable, addressed.

The land comprises nine contiguous allotments that make up the 5173sq m site. Precinct plans four buildings there.

Plans are for buildings to step up to a maximum of five storeys to the north.

Precinct's Scott Pritchard announced the scheme. Photo / Babiche Martens

In June, Precinct chief executive Scott Pritchard announced the NZX-listed company planned a $300 million-plus Auckland apartment development push in a three-pronged strategy:

• Building a 500-unit $100m-plus student accommodation tower at 256 Queen St, “to be a tall building up to 30 levels”;
• New Mt Eden apartments on ex-Eke Panuku land across from Woolworths; and
• Buying half of developer Lamont and Co that Precinct does not already own, with founders Tim and Andrew remaining for five years.

Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.