The Ports of Auckland's 77 hectares of waterfront is among the most valuable properties owned by Auckland Council. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Auckland Council is sitting on $2.6 billion worth of “vacant” land and buildings at a time when it is hunting extra cash to plug a major hole in its budget.
The self-classified vacant properties make up 8 per cent of the $32b worth of land and buildings the council owns across the region.
It includes significant numbers of vacant commercial (100 properties worth $317m), residential (356 properties at $283m), industrial (69 at $211m) and lifestyle (35 worth $75m) zoned properties, according to data obtained by the Weekend Herald.
Yet being classified as vacant doesn’t mean properties are unused.
About $1.5b or 1819 pieces of council land classified as vacant are “Recreational – vacant” and made up mostly of sports grounds and parks.
Deputy mayor and former finance committee chair Desley Simpson said councillors had looked through the council’s property portfolio, line-by-line, in the hunt for savings for the 2023/24 draft budget.
But selling council land can “get awfully complicated” because many people and bodies have interests in it, such as some land sitting under the responsibility of local boards, she said.
“It’s not as simple as one group of people that makes a decision about everything,” she said.
Public interest in the council’s finances is running red hot now it faces a $295m budget hole.
A record 28,850 people and organisations have made online submissions about council’s latest draft budget.
In the budget, Mayor Wayne Brown’s council has proposed selling $1.9b in Auckland Airport shares to pay down debt.
They’ve also proposed increasing rates by less than inflation and asking council bosses to cut costs and services that will likely impact things like swimming pools, libraries and the zoo.
Brown also has an eye on land.
He wants Auckland’s port moved from its prime waterfront location and replaced with hotels, apartments, shops and public access to the water.
The council valued the port properties on Quay St in the city centre at more than $680m during its last round of capital valuations of every property in Auckland.
The main Waitemata Port, at $650m, is the council’s single most valuable property.
In another portfolio review last year, the council decided to sell its interest in 150 residential units it owns in partnership with retirees at 14 locations across the city.
Councillors ended the 50-year-old Own Your Own Home scheme without giving notice to the retirees.
The shocked retirees branded the decision a “top-secret sell-off”, while the council said the move saves money and promised to only sell to an organisation that respects the retirees’ existing ownership rights.
The council is hunting for cost savings, but some of its most valuable “vacant” land isn’t likely to be sold anytime soon.
That includes its most valuable - and one of its most beautiful - slices of open land, Takapuna’s The Strand Reserve on the North Shore.
At $38m, the reserve runs the length of Takapuna’s beach waterfront, with cafes on one side and azure waters on the other.
Similarly, the next two most valuable vacant chunks of council land are large sports grounds and fields.
One is a $37m piece of the Merton Rd sports complex in East Auckland’s St Johns that is next to the Auckland Netball Centre, Oceania Football Confederation offices and Auckland University Cricket Club.
Rhonwen Heath, Auckland Council’s head of rates valuations, said these properties illustrate why some land is deemed “vacant”.
The vacant classification is a code that indicates no buildings or significant structures have been built on the land, she said.
The land is then further categorised according to its town planning designation.
Therefore, Takapuna’s The Strand Reserve is classified “Residential – vacant” because of its surrounding zone, while the Merton Rd grounds are “Industrial – vacant” because they are in an industrial zone.
Heath said land classified vacant can include “public accessways, future development land, properties for public work such as transport or park purposes that are held waiting commencement of a project, and spite strips that are residual from roading projects”.
While the three most valuable tranches of vacant land aren’t on the market, many others are important pieces in major new developments.
Two of the council’s most valuable empty blocks are in South Auckland’s mega new suburb Flat Bush and valued at $30m and $25m.
The open space-zoned tranches at 231 Flat Bush School Rd and 56 Brookview Dr are surrounded by development lots where new townhouses are rising fast.
Fletcher Building has leased the council’s 6ha Brookview Dr block until next year to use as a staging ground for its work building homes nearby.
Near Auckland’s waterfront, the council owns three pieces of prime Wynyard Quarter vacant land collectively valued at nearly $70m.
They include 28 Madden St (valued at $23m), 117 Pakenham St West ($22m) and 55 Gaunt St ($22m).
The blocks are all earmarked for upcoming development as part of the Wynyard Quarter rejuvenation project that is transforming the industrial port into a mix of boutique new apartments, offices and waterfront restaurants.
The council also has big plans in the heart of the city centre where it owns a $20m vacant slice of Aotea Square at 4-8 Mayoral Dr.
The land was a car park for council staff before it was turned into a staging ground for building work on the $5.5b City Rail Link project’s Aotea Station, which is tipped to become the city’s busiest train station when opened.
Once the CRL is finished and the Mayoral Dr site becomes available, a Malaysian firm has agreed to pay $40m to lease the land for 125 years.
It plans to build a $452m building containing a plaza and mix of shops, offices and apartments that will rise 21 floors above the station.
One of Auckland Council’s most interesting under-developed landholdings is not listed as vacant, however.
The Jellicoe Street car park at 37-55 Madden St in the Wynyard Quarter contains space for about 160 cars and is little more than an expanse of tarmac.
However, because of its prime location near the Wynyard waterfront and Fish Market, valuers decided it is worth an incredible $60m.
It’s no coincidence Brown has his eyes on Auckland’s waterfront ports.
The $650m Waitemata Port - one of four city centre port zones the Ports of Auckland authority operates - is the council’s most valuable property.
The council’s most valuable building, however, is its downtown office tower and corporate headquarters.
Te Wharau O Tamaki - Auckland House at 135 Albert St has a council valuation of $250m – made up of $210m for its office tower and $40m for its 3.3ha of inner-city land.
By comparison, Waitemata Port’s $650m valuation consists of $125m worth of port facilities and $525m for its prized land.
The council’s third most valuable property is the $240m Aotea Square complex, which includes the Civic Carpark and Aotea Centre performing arts and event space.
The council’s entertainment arm Tātaki Auckland Unlimited operates the property.
After Aotea Square, the next most valuable properties are the $220m Auckland Domain and Museum parkland, the $210m Britomart Station, the $178m Lower Nihotupu Reservoir in the Waitakere Ranges in West Auckland and the $165m Downtown Carpark Building at 2 Lower Hobson St.
Other valuable properties include the $145m inner city Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, $127m North Shore Harbour Stadium sports precinct in Albany, $125m Mt Smart Stadium precinct in Penrose and $125m Westhaven Marina waterfront.
The council’s port and architecturally designed city centre buildings might get the most attention but a far less glamorous category of physical assets is the most valuable.
They are the underground pipes, cabling and water reservoirs and plants needed to provide the city with critical services, such as electricity, stormwater run-off and waste and drinking water supply.
The council lists these assets as “Sanitary”, valued at $8.2b, and “Water Supply”, valued at $4.5b.
The next most valuable property category is “Passive outdoor” with almost 3900 properties valued at $3.8b.
These are mostly parks and reserves, such as the $38m Wenderholm Regional Park, 43km north of Auckland, and the $38m Long Bay Regional Park near Albany.
Next is the “Multi-Use within recreational” category, made up of 207 properties valued at $2.5b.
That includes the North Shore Harbour Stadium as well as the Trusts Arena entertainment and athletics complex on Central Park Dr in Henderson that is valued at more than $63m.
Council also owns 253 “Parking” or “Commercial car parking” properties valued at $923m.
Other properties include 144 “Halls” valued at $345m, 85 “Educational” properties at $210m and 45 “Cemeteries and crematoria” at $112m.
More quirky properties include 10 classified as “Personal and property protection”, such as civil defence centres and a rural fire station, valued at $14m, three “Bachs” worth $3m and two “Air transport” properties on Great Barrier Island valued at $2m.
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