A petition has been launched to stop the sale of the Downtown car park building.
A petition has been launched to stop the sale of the Downtown car park building.
A petition has been presented to Auckland councillors today to stop the sale of the Downtown car park building.
The organiser of the petition, Shery Gartner, said Aucklanders rely on the 1944-space car park for convenience and reasonably-priced parking to access the Viaduct Basin, Queen St and the ferries.
Withsafety issues in the central city, she said it was the safest car park building for women and seniors who come to the downtown area.
Commuters used it to park for work when they had to drive into the city; mothers with babies, children, and seniors used it without it costing a lot; apartment residents who did not have a car park used it for long-term parking; and it was popular with Waiheke day-visitors and residents, Gartner told the council’s transport and infrastructure committee.
The Downtown car park building has 1944 parking spaces. Photo / Dean Purcell
“My personal experience is relying strongly on it to take my mother in a wheelchair, children in pushchairs, visit Waiheke for the day, and being proud to take overseas visitors to dinner under cover using the world-class skybridge.
“I often thought, ‘thank God for the Downtown car park’,” the accountant from One Tree Hill said.
The council decided in 2021 to sell the car park building built by the former Auckland City Council in 1970 on a 0.65ha site on the corner of Customs St West and Lower Hobson St.
Last year, it was announced Precinct would work with Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei to redevelop the valuable car park site a block from the waterfront.
The proposed sale is being handled by the council’s development arm, Panuku Development Auckland, and includes plans for a bus facility and mobility parking in a new building and demolishing the Hobson St flyover.
“We are making good progress in our negotiations with Precinct and expect to be able to share more information soon.
“Negotiations on agreements like these can take some time and it’s worth spending the time to get it right, especially given the opportunity presented by the site’s redevelopment,” a Panuku spokeswoman said today.
Shery Gartner has collected nearly 6000 signatures to her petition calling on Auckland Council to stop the sale and demolition of the Dotwntown car park building.
Gartner said her petition to stop the sale and demolition of the car park building stood at 5951 signatures without any publicity.
She said Auckland lacked regular, convenient, widespread underground public transport in any practical sense.
“It is too soon and unacceptable to sell this public facility,” said Gartner.
