Plans for 35 Graham St, Auckland CBD. Demolition works began in late June. Image / Mansons TCLM
New Mansons TCLM Auckland office block could be 11 levels, but designs could change; free car with Westgate townhouse; Kiwi Property tells of Resido build-to-rent leasing and how tenants buy at Sylvia Park - in the fortnightly Property Insider column.
Work has begun on New Zealand’s largest new commercial project but Mansons TCLM director Culum Manson said work was continuing on designs which might change.
“We’re still in the process of looking at what could go there,” Manson said yesterday.
One set of plans under discussion is for an 11-level $650 million new office block at 35 Graham St, above Fanshawe St, developed by the family-owned business.
New images show how the building could look once completed, with the retention of Paper House and its mural and a through-site visual connection between Graham St looking towards the Viaduct Harbour via a glazed entrance way.
The design shown in one plan is for a building to be 24,649sq m, or 2.4ha of indoor floor space, a leasing brochure showed.
Specifications show details of each of the 11 levels:
Mansons TCLM’s projects are designed to meet the international Green Star rating.
That means tenants lease the space because it is the highest spec possible, meeting global environmental standards.
“This new commercial building offers tenants dynamic and modern working spaces conveniently situated a stone’s throw from Wynyard Quarter, Auckland’s newest waterfront neighbourhood,” Manson’s brochure said.
The interior of what will be a carbon-positive building has been designed with open, transitional spaces to inspire collaboration.
Private rooms within offices are designed to allow for more focused working environments.
Architectural practice FORMiS, which designed the block, has done several other projects for the same company.
In February, Manson said of offices then planned for site: “The building will enjoy a large central atrium and has been carefully designed to be flexible to different customer size requirements. We can accommodate 500sq m through to 22,000sq m and everything in between – maximising views, natural light and efficiency.”
The building is to be completed by January 2028, Manson forecast.
It will be across the road from The Galleries apartments at 23 Graham St.
The existing building at 35 Graham St has been empty since the pandemic.
Mansons’ plans in the latest concept incorporate the existing BJ Ball Building, Paper House, dating back to 1962 on its northwestern side.
An integral part of that older building is the mural on the northwest corner, designed by artist Milan Mrkusich.
The BJ Ball Building and that Mrkusich mural were identified as items with a Category B Historic Heritage Place under the Auckland Unitary Plan.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga does not, however, list the building as historic, mainly due to the extensive modifications it’s undergone over many years.
Advertising a Westgate terraced unit with a free $50,000 car didn’t impress some.
“Anyone thinking the price tag has a one in front of it should be over here smoking ganja,” said one commentator when the deal was being debated.
Barfoot & Thompson agents offered a “free Toyota Rav 4 GX Hybrid, or equivalent car worth $50,000″, for buyers of the homes on Greenbrier St, Westgate.
“Endless possibilities ... The only possibility I see in this listing is the death of the Kiwi lifestyle,” said another commentator.
Another said: “horrific”, while another said: “$1.14m for that horrible disconnected set of shoe boxes.”
However, Jackie Li, the business development and marketing manager at Precise Homes in Khyber Pass Rd, Grafton said it subdivided the land and sold the site to another developer who built there.
“While we fully respect the individual’s right to express their opinion, our development has full resource consent, including but not limited to architectural, landscape and urban design by local authorities.
“The project meets all regulatory standards and aims to provide high-quality homes that reflect the needs of modern New Zealanders while being mindful of the local environment,” Li said.
The agents advertised the places indicated in red as four bedrooms, two bathrooms and two lounges with dual key entry, “whether you’re looking to live, rent, co-live, or run an Airbnb”.
Development of the under-construction Pompallier on Ponsonby is advancing.
The $120 million office/retail/residential development is on a corner site at 286-304 Ponsonby Rd at the northern end of the strip between Cowan St and Pompallier Tce.
That is near the Jervois Rd/College Hill Rd intersection.
A tower crane has been up there for some months and CMP showed an aerial photo to illustrate “the multi-faceted work faces and site progress”.
Vertical and horizontal strengthening and extensions were being done to an older building there, it said.
Those works were well advanced.
Concrete was being laid and work was progressing at basement level, CMP showed.
“The post-tensioned, mid-level basement floor is beginning to take form, despite the rain and wind. The roads and footpaths are a lot less muddy now that we’re pouring concrete every day.”
Work, life, play is a phrase often cited in new developments which aim to house people near or at where they work and keep them there.
Kiwi Property Group opened the new build-to-rent, 295-unit Resido last June beside Sylvia Park. It is now 90% leased, so 266 places are occupied.
The buildings were opened last year by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
Kiwi has indicated its new tenants are staying in their ’hood for shopping.
“According to a recent survey, Resido residents each spend over $21,000 per year at Sylvia Park, equivalent to sales of more than $8m based on 400 residents,” Kiwi’s AGM presentation last week said.
Kiwi said it would wait to decide on build-to-rent at its LynnMall shopping centre, depending on how Resido went.
Well, it seems it went well, “nearly full one year after opening”, as the company noted.
Kiwi will pay a higher dividend.
Chairman Simon Shakesheff said: “With a full-year dividend of 5.40 cents per share, the dividend payout ratio for FY25 is 93%. As a business, our goal is to deliver sustainable earnings and dividend growth for shareholders.
“We are pleased to provide shareholders with dividend guidance for FY26 of 5.60 cents per share, which represents a 3.7% increase on the prior year. This dividend increase underscores our intention to continue to deliver dividend growth over time.”
Anne Gibson has been the Herald‘s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.