The year of taking on the big guys

Friday 15th December 2000

BIG DEAL: AMP settled out of court with Andrew Krukziener for a seven-figure sum in getting the go-ahead for the 31-level PricewaterhouseCoopers Centre in downtown Auckland

SHAKE-UP: Real's national real estate manager, Ian Grindle, has had a turbulent year

PROPERTY

By Campbell McIlroy

This was a year of the little guy versus the big guy in the property industry.

Spacwi took on AMP, minority shareholders took on Waltus, Real took on everyone.

AMP gets the Tui "Yeah right!" award for the comment that "we did not settle out of court with Andrew Krukziener, he withdrew his case" in the battle over Auckland's $147 million PricewaterhouseCoopers Centre.

But at the end of the day the AMP boys managed to pull it off - the 31-level waterfront tower will be built, in the biggest deal this year in property.

Against the odds Waltus also managed to pull off the merger of 27 syndicated properties into one $227 million company. After two High Court hearings and one Court of Appeal hearing the Waltus merger was finally approved on November 6.

The residential sector had its biggest shake-up this year with the launch of Real. Claiming it would fundamentally change the nature of vendor agent relations its campaign was taken as a slight on the rest of the industry which fought back.

A tough market and Real's naive perception of how it would be welcomed into the market led to a cashflow crisis and request for next year's subs from law firms in advance.

Next year will be make or break year for the fledgling organisation.

Listed property companies have also had a mixed year, with many taking large hits on their valuations.

But the winner would have to be Property For Industry. While not necessarily the sexiest stock on the market PFI is the perennial tortoise making steady progress and achieving good returns for investors.

PFI also managed to clinch the year's largest industrial deal when it paid $23.15 million for eight properties in Auckland's Mt Wellington last week.

In the retail sector St Lukes is no more and Westfield has thrown itself straight into the lion's den of public opinion with its proposed Newmarket development. Commentators are still sceptical that it and 277's expansion can both survive.

Meanwhile, three significant developments were announced this year in Wellington: FR Partners' Mfat Tower, the $55 million Reading International cinema development and Waltus' and Melview Developments' $150 million development next to the Wellington Railway Station.

The biggest sale in the capital was the transaction that saw WestpacTrust head office sold for $22.5 million to offshore investors.

As for the people doing the deals - Colliers Jardine has had another spectacular year, especially in commercial leasing and remains the undisputed champion of the broking fraternity.

But Bayleys' Bruce Whillans has also managed to pull off a one-man property boom in Auckland, adding $150 million to his career record of over $500 million worth of property sales.

The first year of the millennium will also be remembered as the year we said farewell to Goodall ABL and Jihong Lu.

Comments from our readers

No comments yet