Weekend downpour: New Lynn retail building closed but mall ok

The businesses in the building include a Japanese restaurant called Happy Japanese Restaurant, a barbers shop and night-club Club FiaFia. Photo / Nadia Tolich

A New Lynn retail building has been closed while safety checks are being undertaken after the weekend's floods.

Tracy Mulholland, contract manager for the New Lynn Business Association said the building at 3107 Great North Road had been closed while survey work was undertaken.

The businesses in the building include a Japanese restaurant called Happy Japanese Restaurant, a barbers shop and night-club Club FiaFia.

Mulholland said the roads were open and she had spoken to a number of other business owners who appeared to be fine.

Other businesses were also closed today including Western Tattoo, Green Mobile, Sign & Printing, Auckland Locksmiths and Blondinies Arts.

New Lynn's main shopping centre was unharmed but a mini 'lake' developed on an inner-city construction site.

Chris Gudgeon, Kiwi Property chief executive, said his company's LynnMall centre was not hurt in the area's disaster.

"Thankfully we had no flooding at LynnMall. Flooding seemed to be mainly on the other side of Great North Road further north up by the creek," Gudgeon said.

However, the $850 million Commercial Bay property being developed in Auckland CBD at the site of the former Downtown shopping mall was re-named Commercial Lake by one observer who sent the Herald a picture. It's the city's largest office site development.

A spokeswoman for Precinct Properties, the developer of Commercial Bay, dismissed concerns but did acknowledge the deep pit on the site at the intersection of Customs St West and Albert St and the amount of water there.

Work on the site had now begun to create the twin City Rail Link tunnels, she said. Those are being built under the new office block and shopping centre.

However, the water would not be an issue, she said, and had only pooled at the lower ground levels. A development chief said the water would not cause any problems.

Meanwhile, the organiser of the Kumeu Agricultural and Horticultural Show said it had made a huge financial loss after poor turn-out over the weekend.

Liz Westman, Kumeu show manager, said it decided to make entry free on Saturday because of the wet weather - the first time it had ever done that in the show's 95 year history.

She didn't know how many people had come through the gates on either Saturday or Sunday but said the show would be looking for sponsors to enable it to continue next year.

Of the 300 stall-holders the show normally attracted only about 80 turned up with many people unable to travel due to the flooding, she said.

Westman said the show had sold some tickets online through eventfinder for the first time this year and would be refunding people who bought tickets for the Saturday.