Developers eye Britomart

By Christine Nikiel

Friday 22nd November 2002

Interest in buying into Auckland's biggest transport project to date is snowballing as Auckland City Council pitches sites around its $200 million-plus Britomart transport centre.

Among the issues raised by developers at this week's presentation for potential developers were lease terms, building restrictions and the extent of council involvement in development plans.

While expensive, keeping and upgrading heritage facades was not a problem as character buildings were in short supply and offered good development opportunities, one developer said.

Heritage buildings offered a total of 42,000sq m of space.

But with some rents in Auckland heritage buildings at $230-240 a sq m tenants could literally pay a high price for moving to Auckland's "transport hub."

The 50-year internal leases on the heritage buildings for sale caused most concern as the industry speculated about future values.

"I'd be skeptical of those 50-year leaseholds because you run the risk of not owning that building when the lease terminates or not being able to sell it," said one developer. "Who knows what it will be worth in 50 years?"

While Princes Wharf also had 50-year leases its waterfront location made it a prime spot that would help ensure future value and demand, he said.

And while council figures boast Britomart's capacity for passengers is 10,000 an hour there are no guarantees numbers will hit that mark.

The area could also take up to two years to be fully operational, one developer said, with facade refurbishment, earthquake-proofing and strengthening as well as leasing to complete.

But the council has worked hard to drum up interest in Britomart.

Council consultancy services manager Peter Beckerleg presented the council pitch to developers this week in conjunction with Barfoot & Thompson, which hopes to be a major Britomart property marketer.

Some developers showed frustration at a lack of information on building restrictions but the council has admitted its proposals are still in the early stages.

Asked about the "level of invasiveness" from the council's heritage committee, Mr Beckerleg said the main restrictions involved keeping the heritage facades and limiting building height to eight levels. "Basically, we don't want any big glass towers," he said.

Mr Beckerleg also admitted there would be a few "no-no's" tenant-wise.

"We'll be looking at prohibiting certain activities and restricting some development with a covenant on some titles," he said.

Interest in Britomart had come from Singaporean and Australian developers and "a couple" of expatriate New Zealanders, including one working in the US, Mr Beckerleg said.

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