Plans for the new Pak'nSave Takapuna, approved by the council on June 12. Photo / Auckland Council
Plans for the new Pak'nSave Takapuna, approved by the council on June 12. Photo / Auckland Council
The new $100 million Pak’nSave Takapuna will employ more than 200 staff but will not open until 2029.
Lindsay Rowles, Foodstuffs North Island retail and property general manager, gave further details of the store to be built on the former Barrys Point dump, 6 Fred Thomas Drive, between EsmondeRd and Killarney St.
The 6461sq m store “is expected to create over 200 jobs and will be located on a 9826 square metre site with construction expected to be completed in 2029,″ his statement said.
The site was unusual: “Large vacant sites in this area are rare, and this is a great opportunity to create a modern, efficient store.”
Plans for the new store by Foodstuffs responded to the site’s constraints, which include flood threats.
“The proposed design has been carefully developed to respond to these challenges, with the retail floor located on level one above an undercroft carpark and includes a civil engineering solution to safely manage stormwater and flood risk,” Foodstuff’s statement said.
Foodstuffs says a new Pak’nSave in Takapuna will employ 200 people.
Auckland Council’s resource consent approval document gave further details:
4626sq m gross retail space;
696sq m back-of-house storage area;
425sq m mezzanine area;
41sq m plant room on the mezzanine floor;
342sq m ground floor entry/lobby area;
331sq m ground floor e-commerce “click and collect” area.
The store will have 197 undercroft carparks on the ground floor, with the shop a suspended floor above that.
The supermarket will discharge all stormwater runoff to the existing smaller overland flow path on the site via a rock rip-rap outlet.
Any additional stormwater would discharge directly into the council reticulated stormwater network. The major overland flow path along the northern and eastern boundaries would be upgraded.
Car parking would be on a raised ground level and the trading and storage/service areas above that on a second level.
The site at 6 Fred Thomas Drive is outlined in yellow. The new $100m Pak'nSave Takapuna is consented to be built there. Photo / Bentley & Co application
The consent said that presented a logical and reasonable response to the site’s constraints, namely the flood plain and overland flow path.
The loading and pedestrian access is positioned in a way that would avoid conflict between vehicles and pedestrians and supports the positioning of the more utilitarian loading, service area and access to the southern end of the building towards the side boundary.
A bus ploughs through flood waters on Fred Thomas Drive during the Auckland anniversary floods of 2023.
The supermarket will connect into the public wastewater and water supply networks: Watercare Services has confirmed there is capacity for the applicants to do so, the consent said.
The application was not notified, meaning people had no opportunity to have any input into plans. Council specialists assessed it and decided there was no need for neighbours, a limited number, or full notification to occur.
Plans for the landscaping show the ground floor or carpark of the huge new Pak'nSave Takapuna to rise at 6 Fred Thomas Drive on the North Shore. Photo / Bentley & Co application
The huge new store would generate a substantial amount of traffic but the council said it had been demonstrated that the surrounding road network would still operate efficiently.
Physical design of the street frontage was lauded.
The building helps consolidate the built form along Fred Thomas Drive, the decision said.
The supermarket would incorporate into its frontage facade a vertical pattern like a barcode with varied-width vertical panels, recesses and windows.
That would break up the volume of space brought by such a large building and offer some modulation and articulation of materials fronting Fred Thomas Drive.
The overall design will be legible in terms of its function and make a contribution to the streetscape, the consent said.
Pedestrians would get into the supermarket via Des Swan Drive as well as Fred Thomas Drive where a travelator will take them up one level.
The store is to be built on the former Barrys Point dump which operated from the 1920s to 1976.
The consent noted it was therefore “subject to land instability”.
But buses won’t be welcome at the front there any longer.
Fred Thomas Drive is now a bus layover area, the vehicles using the road for temporary parking between serving routes, the consents noted.
Winning consent to build means the removal of that bus layover area.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald‘s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
