Speedy work ends in sellout for Railway Campus

By Bob Dey

Railway Campus, the student accommodation project in Auckland's former central railway station, has been sold out.

"We have even got a waiting list in case some fall over - we've never had that before," said developer Jim Speedy of Covington Corporation yesterday.

Mr Speedy won the leasehold station site for $4 million and is turning it into student accommodation, run by an Auckland University company and promoted heavily as an investment.

Units are priced from $83,000 to $170,000, including furniture, to give rental returns of 9 to 10 per cent.

"It's a fantastic development. The finished product will be spectacular as a facility for the university. The common areas, the library - you just can't make that today," Mr Speedy said.

A team of three salesmen working on site took over the project with about 80 of the 230 units sold and completed the sell-off on Christmas Eve at a rate of about $1.5 million in sales a week.

The same team has moved on to Phoenix Gardens, Mr Speedy's next project, with expectations of cleaning up most of the remaining 25 units by the time the first occupants are scheduled to start moving in, on March 1.

The team of George Grove, Robert Young and Mike de Seymour joined forces in the sale of more than $40 million of rooms in the strata-titled Travelodge Hotel on Albert St, a project which fell short of two targets and has been canned.

At the Railway Campus, the trio were with Kelland's Real Estate for the first month before operating on their own direct contract with Covington.

"We said we'd have it sold before Christmas.

"On Christmas Eve we had six left, with one customer wanting six and another wanting one," Mr Grove says.

Conditions for the sales team at the two projects are very different - at the station, they had dust, noise and a rapidly changing existing building to work in. At Phoenix Gardens, the luxury apartment building which looks down Grafton Gully and offers spectacular views from all but the lower floors, the team is based in the pavilion alongside the tennis court, pool and golf practice areas.

"You can have a swim before going home - and our tennis is improving," said Mr Grove.

The bulk of Phoenix Gardens' 74 units were sold off the plans by Bayleys but the sole agency has ended on the $65 million development. Among apartments still unsold are three penthouses, all of two levels, and the 260 sq m unit facing directly down the gully from level 10, immediately below the penthouses and priced at $1.4 million.