A half-finished apartment building in Auckland's Epsom has been left derelict for the past five years. Photo / RNZ
By Melanie Earley of RNZ
Several Auckland housing developments are sitting unfinished and seemingly abandoned, leaving some neighbours frustrated.
An air of mystery surrounds the developments, with many living nearby worrying about problems with squatters, vandalism, rain run-off and ageing materials.
So, what are some of the reasons behind the stalled developments and are any of them likely to be finished or demolished in 2025?
The Epsom Central Apartments Project halted five years ago, after Auckland Council found it had not complied with building consent.
The original partnership, Epsom Central Apartments LP, was put into receivership in 2022, and purchased by Xiao Liu, the director of a company named Reeheng Ltd, in September 2023.
Since then, community members and business owners have said there has been an air of mystery around what will happen to the building, which at one point was filled with rats and squatters.
Greenwoods Corner Epsom Business Association president Dominique Bonn described the multi-storey building as a “blight on the Epsom landscape”.
It was covered in graffiti and “entombed” in scaffolding.
“It’s an eyesore – certainly not something we welcome in the area. We’re very keen to see something built to conclusion, but we have no real gauge on what’s going to happen.
“It’s been a real mystery for everyone in the area.”
A council spokesperson said its understanding was Reeheng Ltd intended to remove the unconsented works and rebuild in line with the original building consent.
Seascape tower in Auckland’s CBD was meant to be New Zealand’s highest residential building, but construction has not happened in the past couple of months.
In September, it was reported work had stalled due to a dispute between the developer and the builder.
Auckland Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson told RNZ at the time that an inspection had been carried out by Auckland Council and the building was deemed secure by structural engineers who carried out a floor-by-floor inspection inside and outside.
Simpson said the inspection was so detailed that each screw was checked to make sure that it could withstand being out in the open.
Minor details such as a pile of scaffolding needing to be removed were noted, Simpson said.
It could be up to a year before work would start again.
The last construction update on the Seascape website is from March 2023.
Several duplexes in Pukekohe’s Valley Road had remained as only the frames of houses for at least a year, residents said.
A worker at the Valley Road Foodmarket next door said no workers had been at the site since 2023, and she had “no idea” what was happening with the new builds.
“There’s a Barfoot & Thompson sign outside, but no details about who the agent is or who is in charge of the construction,” she said.
A listing for two of the lots available on the Barfoot & Thompson website says the unfinished homes are for sale by negotiation, with completion due in “late 2024”.
Another listing for one of the front lots on the Harcourts Flat Bush website describes it as a “brand-new duplex” for “lock and leave living”.
Harcourts real estate agent Grace Wong said the property was not for sale at present and the developers who owned the site wanted to “hold on to it until they have finished their other projects”.
The Barfoot & Thompson listing agent did not respond to a request for comment.
Over on the North Shore in the coastal suburb of Mairangi Bay, residents said they were concerned about what appeared to be an “abandoned” construction site of new-build homes.
Nick Rogers, who lives near the site in Beach Road, said only the exterior shell of the houses was complete.
“The site with its considerable excavation has been an eyesore for months. No one knows what will happen to it.”
Work began on the site more than two years ago, Rogers said, and he had not seen the “handful” of workers since about July.
The site was loosely fenced off and he said neighbours had noted there was “considerable rain run-off” from the site.
“There is an open window in the apartment block and debris and earth are accumulating around the garages, which are just bare-concrete, unroofed structures.”
A spokesperson for Archimax, an aluminium cladding supplier contracted to work on the development, said there was work they still needed to do on the site, but a timeline had not been given to them by the developer telling them when it would be needed.
“We have no idea what’s going on with the site at the moment.”
The George in New North Rd in Kingsland was being marketed on the Harcourts website as nine luxury townhouses with construction under way.
But nearby business owners said they had no idea what was happening with the corner site during recent months.
A link to a website for the development, on the Harcourts listing, leads to a “site cannot be reached” page.
Harcourts real estate agent Aman Gulia said the developer, CSS Luxury Homes Ltd, was still actively constructing the site and the first three townhouses were being done first.
“It’s still going ahead and the others will be done after,” Gulia said.
“Originally, apartments were planned, but when that was changed to townhouses it involved getting new resource consent, [which] slowed things down.
“The owner is busy with other townhouse developments, including one just finished in Point Chevalier at the moment.”
The Companies Register listed it as being overdue in filing its annual returns, and it was stated that if this was not immediately filed the registrar would start action to remove the company from the register.
CSS Luxury Homes Ltd did not respond to a request for comment.
- RNZ
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Emergency services were called at 7.12pm.
