Appointments: Cup village chief focuses solely on property assets

By Graeme Kennedy

Friday 4th August 2000

GROWTH ORIENTED: Doug Snell says it is essentially a matter of improving net values

The America's Cup Village has been restructured to generate bigger profits and better service for a more exciting event in 2002/3, its new general manager Doug Snell says.

The Infrastructure Auckland subsidiary has dropped activities involved in events - from buskers and public entertainment to food and souvenir retailing - to fully focus on its core business of property management.

The village owns syndicate bases and Viaduct superyacht berths and will manage those assets to generate revenues.

Mr Snell, a registered valuer and University of Auckland lecturer in property management, said his role was to add value to the village as a property asset - "It is essentially a matter of improving net values. It's a capital asset sitting there and has to grow in value or there's not much point in owning it," he said.

"The challenge is to take the lessons learned from the last regatta and look at ways to improve service levels and control service standards. Yacht owners don't care who owns the space. They want service and if they have a problem they want it fixed and to deal with one authority so they enjoy their stay and come back.

"They had high praise last time and the problem now is to provide the standards of service these people expect - and maintain them.

"Our revenues will come from the superyacht berths and syndicate bases and the key is marketing the marina to offshore yacht operators while building relationships with the various base licence holders and to maximise revenues we must match demand to capacity."

Mr Snell will visit the Fort Lauderdale boat show in Miami in October to stimulate interest in the next cup among the big spenders. The village internet site is being updated to tempt others to sail south in 2002.

"This market is very net-oriented and we will use the technology to get the biggest bang for our bucks," he said.

With a BComm in valuation and property management from Lincoln University, Mr Snell has been part of the Auckland commercial property scene since 1985, working with Colliers Jardine and Raine and Horne before setting up his own property management consultancy two years ago.

He said property management involved increasing revenues by changing asset use or enhancement of usage and improvement of income security with longer-term leases, although achieving consistent revenues in the New Zealand property market was not easy.

"It's either a feast or a famine here. As a country we suffer through our small scale - not only in real estate but other businesses as well - and there haven't been periods of sustained growth since the 1980s," he said.

"Low vacancy rates in the CBDs have been creeping up again with new offices coming on stream, businesses moving to the suburbs or Australia and the use of new technology is downsizing use of office space."

He said he was attracted to the America's Cup Village Ltd (ACVL) job by its combination of property management complexities, including sales, legal, financial and people skills issues, and the chance to be involved in a piece of exciting history.

ACVL was already building revenues, with its syndicate bases filling fast - Prada, Seattle's One World and Oracle founder Larry Ellison's Team Sayonara, and the former America One had already signed up and the rest were expected to be taken in the next few weeks, he said.

"That's when we will start getting a return on our investment. Then there will be casual berthage and an historic boat show coming up and both will be earners - ACVL is an asset sitting there and has to earn its keep," Mr Snell said.

He said bases for another five or six syndicates likely to challenge could be made available at the adjacent log farm, owned by private company Viaduct Holdings, he said.

The superyachts, which during the last regatta injected an estimated $500 million into the Auckland economy and were the major attraction for the village's 4.3 million visitors, are a prime target for the village management - chairman Peter Kiely has just returned from Sardinia and found strong interest from Italian yacht clubs planning to follow Prada to Auckland in 2002.

While the village's financial performance will not be released for at least a month, Mr Snell said the next event would be better than the last with the competition more intense from very powerful and extremely well-resourced syndicates.

"We expect solid representation from the superyacht owners, the syndicate followers and supporters. They had a great time at the last regatta and there's no reason to think they won't be back," he said.

"And we expect a bit of spice for the New Zealand public this time with Coutts, Butterworth and company sailing for other groups - that will add some extra flavour.

"The public recognises the facility is here and we as managers have got to make sure it works and makes money. Mismanagement will not only lose money but also sour the event for them."

Doug Snell
Position: General manager, America's Cup Village Ltd
Age: 40
Marital status: Married, three children
Pastimes: Family, triathalons, trout fishing

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