Developers eye syndicate row

By BERNARD ORSMAN

Pressure from developers to turn syndicate row at the Viaduct Harbour into expensive apartments is certain to grow, says a report on the impact of the America's Cup on real estate markets.

And the pressure will be intense, even if Team New Zealand again successfully defend the cup, according to the report by international property consultants Jones Lang LaSalle.

Team New Zealand executive director Tony Thomas said yesterday that publicly owned land should remain syndicate bases until such time as there was no America's Cup in New Zealand.

Mr Thomas said Sir Peter Blake wanted the cup based at the Viaduct Harbour in Auckland where people could come and enjoy the event without going out on the water. About 4.2 million people visited the harbour for the first cup defence.

The idea of removing the syndicate bases also got the thumbs down from Auckland City councillor and recreation committee chairman Scott Milne who said the "nation would go nuts" if the bases were sold to build apartments.

The consultants said pressure came on after the 2000 defence to develop apartments on some of the land used by the nine challengers plus Team New Zealand.

The report said this was postponed to enable the present defence to take place but "it is questionable whether the bases would be granted a second reprieve."

Work has already started on a 29-unit apartment building on the log farm at the southwestern end of the basin. The log farm is home to four syndicates and a further three apartment buildings are due to cover the land by 2005.

The land is privately owned by Viaduct Harbour Holdings and is being developed by Melview Developments.

The other six bases along syndicate row on Halsey St are publicly owned by Infrastructure Auckland through a subsidiary, America's Cup Village Ltd.

ACVL has given a commitment to hold onto the bases until the end of this cup defence. Chairman Peter Kiely said yesterday that if Team New Zealand kept the cup the future of the bases would be a matter for Infrastructure Auckland "but my recommendation will be that they be retained".

The Jones Lang LaSalle report said the question of an alternative venue for future defences could see the challengers spread around different locations, including Gulf Harbour on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula.

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