Gateway to new town has high potential

The large vacant site at 170 Chapel Rd is near the planned Flat Bush town centre and the country's biggest recreational park. Photo / Supplied

With Manukau City Council land use consent for a 15,000sq m mixed-use retail and apartment development, a 6200sq m vacant site at the gateway to the planned Flat Bush town centre is to be auctioned on June 22 by CB Richard Ellis.

CB Richard Ellis' national director Dominic Ong and senior director Derek Harries say the property at 170 Chapel Rd is a prime development opportunity on the edge of the country's biggest recreational park and a comprehensively planned new town that will be home to 40,000 people within a decade.

Fronting onto Chapel Rd, the site's bare land is opposite the new 93ha Barry Curtis Park,

"It is a site for our times - a new subdivision that sits within a precinct that has zoning for some of New Zealand's highest residential densities," Ong says.

The land is zoned Residential One in the Manukau City Council's "Barry Curtis Park Edge Precinct" where buildings up to 16m high are permitted and lots as small as 125sq m are acceptable. Ong says the zone promotes higher densities of housing on sites close to the planned Flat Bush town centre, including apartment buildings up to five storeys high and small shops on the ground floor. Average lot sizes in the precinct are 180sq m to 250sq m.

The original application for land use consent was lodged by a third party for 17 ground-level shops and 127 apartments - 46 one-bedroom dwellings, 39 two-bedroom and 42 three-bedroom units. The retail units and apartments would be contained within four or more buildings, some up to eight storeys high with 221 carparks.

Consent was granted with an additional 10 carparks, with the council suggesting this could be achieved by reducing the number of retail units or apartments.

"This is a new subdivision. Services have been provided to the boundary and all levies are paid," says Ong.

"The owner, Ormiston Group, is a genuine seller which will meet the market. The group wants to release funds for other projects. This is a highly affordable development opportunity that will appeal to all property players, including individual private developers." Ong says there is potential for additional development scope. "It might not suit a new owner to follow the land-use consent plan and there is the opportunity to build only apartments or use the site for other facilities, such as a medical centre."

Harries says the property is in a strong growth area, where there is demand for all types of property surrounding the planned town centre.

The vacant site has a high-profile position on the western side of Chapel Rd near the junction with Ormiston Rd, which forms the gateway to the new town centre. It also has frontage to Fusion Way and is close to Botany Junction.

Neighbouring tenants include Ormiston Hospital, ASB and Westpac banks, Botany Junction Medical Centre, Four Square, Lollipops Educare and other shops and services.

Harries says the property could not be in a better position. "Flat Bush is the largest, most ambitious development in this country for many years, a 1730ha greenfield site containing a planned mix of residential, commercial, conservation and stormwater management areas as well as public parks and roads.

"In short, Flat Bush is not just another suburban subdivision but an entirely new town that will house a population similar to Nelson."

While most of Flat Bush is being developed by the private sector, the Manukau City Council is planning and creating the town.

Bruce Harland, the council's Flat Bush design and development manager, says this ensures an integrated approach, a focus on sustainable development and community needs are a high priority.

About 15,000 people have moved into the Flat Bush area over the past three years. Harland says Flat Bush will not be a budget-level housing area and it is expected to attract people looking for a high-quality living environment. The heart of Flat Bush will be a new 20ha town centre built on land owned by TMPL - a council-controlled organisation set up to guide its development. It will be developed on a commercial basis.