December 22, 2025 • 18 mins
Is New Zealand’s largest city dying?
Auckland is home to roughly a third of the entire country’s population and is predicted to grow even bigger in the coming years.
The City of Sails is, by far, the largest contributor to New Zealand’s economic output, generating about 40% of GDP.
But, walk down many of the inner-city streets, and you’ll see vacant lots – with a lot of potential.
Today on The Front Page, NZ Herald property editor, Anne Gibson is with us to discuss what can be done to get developers moving on empty spaces – some, that have been desolate for decades.
Follow The Front Page on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network.
Host: Chelsea Daniels
Editor/Producer: Richard Martin
Producer: Ethan Sills
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Kyota A.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Chelsea Daniels here, host of the Front Page. We're taking
away breakover summer, but to help build the gap, we're
re issuing some of our most significant episodes of twenty
twenty five on behalf of the Front Page team. Thanks
for listening and we look forward to being back with
you on January twelfth, twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Kyota.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page, a
daily podcast presented by the New Zealand Herald. Is New
Zealand's largest city, dying Auckland is home to roughly a
third of the country's population and is predicted to grow
even bigger in the coming years. The city of Sales
(01:07):
is by far the largest contributor to New Zealand's economic output,
generating about forty percent of GDP. But walk down many
of the inner city streets and you'll see vague lots
with a lot of potential. Today on the Front Page
ends at Herald, Property editor and Gibson is with us
to discuss what can be done to get developers moving
(01:30):
on empty spaces, some that have been desolate for decades.
First off, there are several high profile vacant sites in Auckland.
Can you walk me through? I guess how many there
are and maybe a couple of those ones that interest
you the most.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Well, good question for me. I've become so innuent to
vacant sites that I don't even see them as vacant anymore.
They're just part of the streetscape. But I think the
one that is most concerning is nearly a half heck
to you, and it's the old food Alley and Yates site.
So this is in between Albert Street, Wolf Street and
kind of the start of Fanchial Street, and it's right
(02:14):
opposite the billion dollar commercial way. Can you believe prime
real estate?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
You would have thought it's.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Owned by the comm family of Singapore. Now they got
Ward demolition in twenty twenty two and twenty three to
knock down what they called the Pigeon Palace, which some
people in Auckland would have called the Food Alley the
Yates building. Now, can you believe it's not even a
car park? Right?
Speaker 2 (02:38):
So what is that? They've just got fences up for you.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
I've got fences up with barboir on top.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
And do they need to do anything with that site?
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Well, that's a block from the waterfront. The com family
who owned the Hilton Hotel down on Princess Wharf. They
don't feel any impetus to do anything there, although Peter Ball,
who works with the Comms, talked about being optimistic about
projects on that site to me last year, but he
also talked about it as being a post COVID challenge.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Now.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
The second one that I think is well known is
the old Auckland Star site in between Shortland Street and
Fort Street that has been vacant for I think thirty
six years. And the third one, very high profile, is
what's known in the property sector, although I don't know
if other people call it, this is the Royal International
(03:29):
Hotel site. Now. This is below Albert Street, just right
beneath the new train station there, and it had a
reverse bungee jump on it for years. But as I
say in the story, even the reverse bungee jump people left.
That is a car park, so it does have some use.
Right beside the Attrium an Alia just at the back
(03:49):
of Westmith and Coe's used to be. So these are
all really central city important sites, and these are berg sites.
And those two last ones that I've referred to have
been vacant plots of land for nearly forty years. Nobody
talks about them, Nobody asks the questions, why is that
like that? These are like gaps in the teeth of
(04:11):
perfect mouth, you know what I mean. You can say
Auckland's not perfect. It's an evolving city. And some people say,
don't worry about the empty sites. Look at those, and
I think, what a lost opportunity.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
It seemed like there was a time when you'd look
at the Auckland skyline and you'd see, you know, dozens
of cranes and things like that, and now you kind
of drive into the sea, you don't see many at all.
Do you do you feel the same?
Speaker 1 (04:36):
I couldn't believe it. Driving over the Harbor Bridge, thinking
about making this with you today, I looked specifically now.
The one crane I did see is the China Construction
crane on the side of Seascape, the huge new apartment
building downtown which Icon has taken over from China Construction finishing.
That there's a crane there. But you're right, the cranes
(04:59):
have vanished, and you know, this is really a sign
of the recession. This is the downturn. This is the
developers not having the confidence to go ahead and build.
There are a few other cranes on the skyline, like
Pompealia on Pontsamby they've got a towel crane CMP Constructions
working there, but generally no, there are no on the
(05:19):
skull line anymore. And I also hear people say, well.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Hold on, foreigners are going to come in here, they're.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Going to buy up New Zealand and they're going to
leave and it's going to be ghost town galore.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Look, there's always solutions. Yeah, you know, you could do it.
Have a vacancy tax if a home was vacant for
more than six months a year, charge commercial council rates.
You know in Wellington that three point seven times higher
the residential rates.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
In Auckland that's two point five times higher than residential rates.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Right, So plenty of ways. It's going to cat where
you could get some more deuce out of the lemon
potentially there. What are some of the main reasons why
these developers are sitting on these vacant sites, whether it
be years or like you said, decades.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Well, I think the main reason is the foreign I mean,
I'm not against foreign investment, but they don't have any
buy into Auckland. They live in Singapore and they live
in China. Now have they land banked those sites?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
I don't really know.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
It's impossible too, very hard, bit of a spectrum to
engage with them unless they have a local consultant. Very
hard to know what they're thinking, is, what their reasoning
is and what can be done about it. And I
talked to Shane Brearley from Simplicity Living last night about this,
and he said, Anne, tax them, tax them up to
(06:41):
ten percent per annum per year of the value of
their site. Give them a couple of years advance, warning
you going to do it, and then you see some action.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
I remember when I lived in Christchurch actually, and we
spoke about this this morning. A the Dirty thirty. So
the council basically decided to publicly shame at least thirty
either derelict or abandoned lots in the central city in
christ Church. This would have been maybe ten years ago,
maybe twenty seventeen. Say esh, I think you may have
(07:12):
incentivized a couple of them and then raised rates, or
that they threatened to raise rates as well. But they
did other things like helping developers navigate consent processes for example,
or offer those incentives or even the public shame part
of it got a couple of them moving.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
So there are.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Different ways to try and get developers to actually do
some work.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Okay, well that's a really good point. You know, I've
talked about a punishment at Detrent for them leaving the
sites vacant. But that's a good point you make about
the encouragement, so the carrot rather than the stick. And
what Shane Brawley also told me about last night is
when he was working for a big Australian developer here
and they were developing the Key West apartments on Albert Street.
(08:01):
There were a two pronged incentive attack you told me
under the Mayor Les Mills. Now, what they got as
developers was basically a rebate on rates, so rates were
suspended for a period of time, plus development contributions were suspended.
This was an act of financial incentive and encouragement for
(08:23):
developers to build. I mean there are a lot you
could say that, having the Auckland Unitary Plan, having no
height limit in the CBD, obviously having to honor view shafts,
as my colleague Simon Wilson has been writing about recently,
but having no height limit is an incentive. But you know,
at the moment, developers just can't sell apartment buildings off
(08:45):
the plans. So apartments were a big part of the
redevelopment and the regeneration of the Auckland CBD, and those
have stopped, and even the ones that are developed, like
I've been talking to John Love at the CAAB, the
former Civic Administration building, and he's still got twenty, he
tells me, out of one hundred and fourteen to sell.
(09:06):
Now that project was finished some time ago, and that's
a very beautiful building. John Love has done an extraordinary
job there. Those apartments are very attractive and he's still
got twenty to sell.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Why are developers choosing the outer suburbs. I suppose you're
Ponts and bees your new markets to develop apartment living.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
That's where people want to live. That's the really sad thing.
When I talked to the developer Shane Braley yesterday, he said, Anne,
I don't want to come into the CBD anymore. So
where are they going. They're building a North Kit and
they're building a line level building on former Calma order
land over there. They're building in Remuera they're building in Allislie,
(09:49):
They're building in mornings Are they building all over not
in the CBD. Now, Precinct Properties is another example. They're
building in Carlton Gore Road in Newmarket. They've got a
really big site of all places, our premiere office developer.
They're building in Dominion Road and Mount Eden. Now, when
(10:11):
that starts happening, I begin to think there's been some
big shift happen here. People are not building in the
CBD anymore. Why just where people want to live. They
know they can pre sell in those suburbs.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
When you look at somewhere like Queen Street, right, and
we've been speaking about revitalizing Queen Street for some time,
for years in fact, but in terms of businesses on
Queen Street, businesses need people, but people don't go to
Queen Street because there's no businesses. Well, there are some,
but it has the vibrant sea has been lost. I
(10:54):
think that's fair to say, hey.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Well, it's terrible to think of Smith and Corey's shutting.
I mean that was such an anchor for the midtown.
A really large development site across the road on Queen Street,
the Saint James Sweets where there was a four hundred
million dollar apartment project planned. Chinese are now selling that site.
Good luck to them. This is a really bad market
(11:15):
to be quitting a site like that. And now that
was to be right beside the Saint James Theater. Saint
James Theatre sitting there partly wrecked. Where's that going?
Speaker 2 (11:25):
You know?
Speaker 1 (11:25):
I mean, so many holes in our CBD, so many opportunities,
but such a lack of movement, and to a large extent,
it's really COVID. And it's also the economic downturn at moment.
So things may change.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
And is it things? Is it hard to get consents
and funding for things or is it just literally a
vibe check.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
We're not going to apply for consent if you know
you can't pre sell them. So to get the funding,
you need the pre sales to get the ten percent deposits,
to go to the bank and say give us the
top up. And if the pre sales are not there,
which they're not, you know, this is just a sign
of people are not selling their houses and moving to apartments,
People are not buying apartments, people fair job losses. This
(12:10):
is the economic downturn in gorm reality. It's a very
good point you've just made Look at the skyline. Where
do the cranes go? Where are they in storage yards?
Stacked up in little bits like lego sets? Is the answer.
That's where they went.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
That's a good vestor that's sad, that's really sad.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
It's terrible because I mean, well, so you know, you say, well,
do we need the city to be changing. There's a
really good University of Auckland paper that I was looking
at which sort of encouraged more acceptance of the dynamic
or even non dynamic shape of Auckland CBD, and it
sort of said, look, it's always evolving, just accepted as
it is. And I kind of like that more optimistic
(12:50):
sort of to say it'll be fine, it'll work out
fine in the end. It's just that we've gone from
a period of extraordinarily intense development and a lot of
developers to crol for the clean out of Albert Street.
But you know, I have been down the Tibayhoo two
station and I have to say it's very, very beautiful.
(13:10):
So if there's going to be a revitalization, maybe it's
that big transport project, and maybe it's the beautiful new
train stations you've got to go there to look at.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
The After COVID, it kind of went a bit downhill
in terms of the city center and you know, the
shops not being as busy.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Traffic is horrendous.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Auckland transport has slowed traffic down, so it makes it
harder to get anywhere in the city. Too many speed bumps.
We need basically more events in the city and more
reason to come into the city because you know, parking cerebral,
traffic cerebral. You have to go three one way straight
to even get anywhere.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
In terms of Auckland, is it a dying city? Because
I know that we like to compare ourselves to other
metropolitan centers around the world, and the prices absolutely reflect
that as well, if I'm going to be honest, in
terms of rent, house prices, cost of food, et cetera,
cost of living. Rather in terms of Auckland and it
(14:19):
being the country's largest city. A third of us live
in Auckland and it contributes what about forty percent GDP
to the rest of the country. Does Auckland get the
respect it deserves? Do you think?
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Well?
Speaker 1 (14:35):
There was that Committee for Auckland report which came out
just recently, which talked about how far Auckland had fallen behind,
and I found that really concerning in terms of respect.
You know, all the relatives in the mainland hate the
Auckland is right, you know, they give me stick when
I go down there, and it's like a badge of dishonour,
isn't it. She's from Auckland. Really okay? But I think
(15:00):
that that is a big city sentiment that's reflected in
every country, whether it be London or Paris, or Berlin
or Sydney. It's just the way it.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Is, right.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Well, I read in the Deloitte report. Actually they did
a state of the City report for Auckland which compares
Auckland with other global s around the world. And it's
funny you bring up Paris because Paris generates this is
a quote from the report thirty one percent of France's
GDP and gets treated accordingly, which I thought was that
(15:33):
stuck out to me because do you think Auckland gets
treated accordingly?
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Very interesting, very interesting comparison. I remember Grant Robertson at
one of the I think it was the Infrastructure of
the Auckland Project events, and he was saying how difficult
it is when he was Finance minister to live in
a city that's being redeveloped. And we know that the
mayor has the War on Cones, so we know that
(15:59):
development has its price and makes it very inconvenient for people.
It's just that when development stops you sort of sit
there and look at it and think, right, what's going on.
I'm sure that development will come back. Auckland is a
huge generator of wealth. It has so many of the
growing financial services and the other spects to New Zealand's
(16:20):
economy that is so important. Fon Terra's headquarters is down
on Vanchul Street. I mean, you know, what is it
an export lead recovery. So it's a really good question
to ask about the role that Auckland plays in terms
of New Zealander. The rural growth we know at the
moment is coming from the agricultural sector, and a lot
of people who work in services have fears about job
(16:42):
loss and unemployment. Has you know, that's been something that
is a real issue now. You can only hope that
for Auckland's sake, that that dynamic nature of the city
continues and the developers will return. We need good shops,
we need good offices, We need good hotels and apartment buildings,
(17:03):
we need really good infrastructure, and I would say that's
one aspect of Auckland that hasn't had the attention it deserved.
I remember someone from Auckland Transport telling me years ago
that in nineteen fifty nine people said, why do we
need to harbor Bridge? This only Strawberry Fields on the
north shore. Lack of vision, right, And many people are
critical of the City rail Link, and I think they
(17:26):
really don't understand the difference that City rail Link is
going to make to Auckland. And I hope with that
movement and easy movement of people around the CBD that
we do see some change. There's a proposal for the
Symphony Center, like multi million dollar project of offices and
(17:47):
apartments right above the teawater y hodd A two station
on the old Bledislow car Park, the Auckland Council car
Park site. So you know, let's hope that those developers
are finding in the market the ambition and the drive
and the determination of businesses to commit and people to
buy apartments. Otherwise that scheme will not go ahead.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
And in the meantime we should tax them if they
don't do anything.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
With their land.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
It's quite a controversial idea, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Thanks for joining us, An. That's it for this episode
of the Front Page. You can read more about today's
stories and extensive news coverage at enzidherld dot co dot MZ.
The Front Page is produced by Ethan Sills and Richard Martin,
who is also our editor. I'm Chelsea Daniels. Subscribe to
(18:41):
the Front Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts,
and tune in tomorrow for another look behind the headlines.
Kyota A.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Chelsea Daniels here, host of the Front Page. We're taking
away breakover summer, but to help build the gap, we're
re issuing some of our most significant episodes of twenty
twenty five on behalf of the Front Page team. Thanks
for listening and we look forward to being back with
you on January twelfth, twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Kyota.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page, a
daily podcast presented by the New Zealand Herald. Is New
Zealand's largest city, dying Auckland is home to roughly a
third of the country's population and is predicted to grow
even bigger in the coming years. The city of Sales
(01:07):
is by far the largest contributor to New Zealand's economic output,
generating about forty percent of GDP. But walk down many
of the inner city streets and you'll see vague lots
with a lot of potential. Today on the Front Page
ends at Herald, Property editor and Gibson is with us
to discuss what can be done to get developers moving
(01:30):
on empty spaces, some that have been desolate for decades.
First off, there are several high profile vacant sites in Auckland.
Can you walk me through? I guess how many there
are and maybe a couple of those ones that interest
you the most.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Well, good question for me. I've become so innuent to
vacant sites that I don't even see them as vacant anymore.
They're just part of the streetscape. But I think the
one that is most concerning is nearly a half heck
to you, and it's the old food Alley and Yates site.
So this is in between Albert Street, Wolf Street and
kind of the start of Fanchial Street, and it's right
(02:14):
opposite the billion dollar commercial way. Can you believe prime
real estate?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
You would have thought it's.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Owned by the comm family of Singapore. Now they got
Ward demolition in twenty twenty two and twenty three to
knock down what they called the Pigeon Palace, which some
people in Auckland would have called the Food Alley the
Yates building. Now, can you believe it's not even a
car park? Right?
Speaker 2 (02:38):
So what is that? They've just got fences up for you.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
I've got fences up with barboir on top.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
And do they need to do anything with that site?
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Well, that's a block from the waterfront. The com family
who owned the Hilton Hotel down on Princess Wharf. They
don't feel any impetus to do anything there, although Peter Ball,
who works with the Comms, talked about being optimistic about
projects on that site to me last year, but he
also talked about it as being a post COVID challenge.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Now.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
The second one that I think is well known is
the old Auckland Star site in between Shortland Street and
Fort Street that has been vacant for I think thirty
six years. And the third one, very high profile, is
what's known in the property sector, although I don't know
if other people call it, this is the Royal International
(03:29):
Hotel site. Now. This is below Albert Street, just right
beneath the new train station there, and it had a
reverse bungee jump on it for years. But as I
say in the story, even the reverse bungee jump people left.
That is a car park, so it does have some use.
Right beside the Attrium an Alia just at the back
(03:49):
of Westmith and Coe's used to be. So these are
all really central city important sites, and these are berg sites.
And those two last ones that I've referred to have
been vacant plots of land for nearly forty years. Nobody
talks about them, Nobody asks the questions, why is that
like that? These are like gaps in the teeth of
(04:11):
perfect mouth, you know what I mean. You can say
Auckland's not perfect. It's an evolving city. And some people say,
don't worry about the empty sites. Look at those, and
I think, what a lost opportunity.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
It seemed like there was a time when you'd look
at the Auckland skyline and you'd see, you know, dozens
of cranes and things like that, and now you kind
of drive into the sea, you don't see many at all.
Do you do you feel the same?
Speaker 1 (04:36):
I couldn't believe it. Driving over the Harbor Bridge, thinking
about making this with you today, I looked specifically now.
The one crane I did see is the China Construction
crane on the side of Seascape, the huge new apartment
building downtown which Icon has taken over from China Construction finishing.
That there's a crane there. But you're right, the cranes
(04:59):
have vanished, and you know, this is really a sign
of the recession. This is the downturn. This is the
developers not having the confidence to go ahead and build.
There are a few other cranes on the skyline, like
Pompealia on Pontsamby they've got a towel crane CMP Constructions
working there, but generally no, there are no on the
(05:19):
skull line anymore. And I also hear people say, well.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Hold on, foreigners are going to come in here, they're.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Going to buy up New Zealand and they're going to
leave and it's going to be ghost town galore.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Look, there's always solutions. Yeah, you know, you could do it.
Have a vacancy tax if a home was vacant for
more than six months a year, charge commercial council rates.
You know in Wellington that three point seven times higher
the residential rates.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
In Auckland that's two point five times higher than residential rates.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Right, So plenty of ways. It's going to cat where
you could get some more deuce out of the lemon
potentially there. What are some of the main reasons why
these developers are sitting on these vacant sites, whether it
be years or like you said, decades.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Well, I think the main reason is the foreign I mean,
I'm not against foreign investment, but they don't have any
buy into Auckland. They live in Singapore and they live
in China. Now have they land banked those sites?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
I don't really know.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
It's impossible too, very hard, bit of a spectrum to
engage with them unless they have a local consultant. Very
hard to know what they're thinking, is, what their reasoning
is and what can be done about it. And I
talked to Shane Brearley from Simplicity Living last night about this,
and he said, Anne, tax them, tax them up to
(06:41):
ten percent per annum per year of the value of
their site. Give them a couple of years advance, warning
you going to do it, and then you see some action.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
I remember when I lived in Christchurch actually, and we
spoke about this this morning. A the Dirty thirty. So
the council basically decided to publicly shame at least thirty
either derelict or abandoned lots in the central city in
christ Church. This would have been maybe ten years ago,
maybe twenty seventeen. Say esh, I think you may have
(07:12):
incentivized a couple of them and then raised rates, or
that they threatened to raise rates as well. But they
did other things like helping developers navigate consent processes for example,
or offer those incentives or even the public shame part
of it got a couple of them moving.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
So there are.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Different ways to try and get developers to actually do
some work.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Okay, well that's a really good point. You know, I've
talked about a punishment at Detrent for them leaving the
sites vacant. But that's a good point you make about
the encouragement, so the carrot rather than the stick. And
what Shane Brawley also told me about last night is
when he was working for a big Australian developer here
and they were developing the Key West apartments on Albert Street.
(08:01):
There were a two pronged incentive attack you told me
under the Mayor Les Mills. Now, what they got as
developers was basically a rebate on rates, so rates were
suspended for a period of time, plus development contributions were suspended.
This was an act of financial incentive and encouragement for
(08:23):
developers to build. I mean there are a lot you
could say that, having the Auckland Unitary Plan, having no
height limit in the CBD, obviously having to honor view shafts,
as my colleague Simon Wilson has been writing about recently,
but having no height limit is an incentive. But you know,
at the moment, developers just can't sell apartment buildings off
(08:45):
the plans. So apartments were a big part of the
redevelopment and the regeneration of the Auckland CBD, and those
have stopped, and even the ones that are developed, like
I've been talking to John Love at the CAAB, the
former Civic Administration building, and he's still got twenty, he
tells me, out of one hundred and fourteen to sell.
(09:06):
Now that project was finished some time ago, and that's
a very beautiful building. John Love has done an extraordinary
job there. Those apartments are very attractive and he's still
got twenty to sell.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Why are developers choosing the outer suburbs. I suppose you're
Ponts and bees your new markets to develop apartment living.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
That's where people want to live. That's the really sad thing.
When I talked to the developer Shane Braley yesterday, he said, Anne,
I don't want to come into the CBD anymore. So
where are they going. They're building a North Kit and
they're building a line level building on former Calma order
land over there. They're building in Remuera they're building in Allislie,
(09:49):
They're building in mornings Are they building all over not
in the CBD. Now, Precinct Properties is another example. They're
building in Carlton Gore Road in Newmarket. They've got a
really big site of all places, our premiere office developer.
They're building in Dominion Road and Mount Eden. Now, when
(10:11):
that starts happening, I begin to think there's been some
big shift happen here. People are not building in the
CBD anymore. Why just where people want to live. They
know they can pre sell in those suburbs.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
When you look at somewhere like Queen Street, right, and
we've been speaking about revitalizing Queen Street for some time,
for years in fact, but in terms of businesses on
Queen Street, businesses need people, but people don't go to
Queen Street because there's no businesses. Well, there are some,
but it has the vibrant sea has been lost. I
(10:54):
think that's fair to say, hey.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Well, it's terrible to think of Smith and Corey's shutting.
I mean that was such an anchor for the midtown.
A really large development site across the road on Queen Street,
the Saint James Sweets where there was a four hundred
million dollar apartment project planned. Chinese are now selling that site.
Good luck to them. This is a really bad market
(11:15):
to be quitting a site like that. And now that
was to be right beside the Saint James Theater. Saint
James Theatre sitting there partly wrecked. Where's that going?
Speaker 2 (11:25):
You know?
Speaker 1 (11:25):
I mean, so many holes in our CBD, so many opportunities,
but such a lack of movement, and to a large extent,
it's really COVID. And it's also the economic downturn at moment.
So things may change.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
And is it things? Is it hard to get consents
and funding for things or is it just literally a
vibe check.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
We're not going to apply for consent if you know
you can't pre sell them. So to get the funding,
you need the pre sales to get the ten percent deposits,
to go to the bank and say give us the
top up. And if the pre sales are not there,
which they're not, you know, this is just a sign
of people are not selling their houses and moving to apartments,
People are not buying apartments, people fair job losses. This
(12:10):
is the economic downturn in gorm reality. It's a very
good point you've just made Look at the skyline. Where
do the cranes go? Where are they in storage yards?
Stacked up in little bits like lego sets? Is the answer.
That's where they went.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
That's a good vestor that's sad, that's really sad.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
It's terrible because I mean, well, so you know, you say, well,
do we need the city to be changing. There's a
really good University of Auckland paper that I was looking
at which sort of encouraged more acceptance of the dynamic
or even non dynamic shape of Auckland CBD, and it
sort of said, look, it's always evolving, just accepted as
it is. And I kind of like that more optimistic
(12:50):
sort of to say it'll be fine, it'll work out
fine in the end. It's just that we've gone from
a period of extraordinarily intense development and a lot of
developers to crol for the clean out of Albert Street.
But you know, I have been down the Tibayhoo two
station and I have to say it's very, very beautiful.
(13:10):
So if there's going to be a revitalization, maybe it's
that big transport project, and maybe it's the beautiful new
train stations you've got to go there to look at.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
The After COVID, it kind of went a bit downhill
in terms of the city center and you know, the
shops not being as busy.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Traffic is horrendous.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Auckland transport has slowed traffic down, so it makes it
harder to get anywhere in the city. Too many speed bumps.
We need basically more events in the city and more
reason to come into the city because you know, parking cerebral,
traffic cerebral. You have to go three one way straight
to even get anywhere.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
In terms of Auckland, is it a dying city? Because
I know that we like to compare ourselves to other
metropolitan centers around the world, and the prices absolutely reflect
that as well, if I'm going to be honest, in
terms of rent, house prices, cost of food, et cetera,
cost of living. Rather in terms of Auckland and it
(14:19):
being the country's largest city. A third of us live
in Auckland and it contributes what about forty percent GDP
to the rest of the country. Does Auckland get the
respect it deserves? Do you think?
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Well?
Speaker 1 (14:35):
There was that Committee for Auckland report which came out
just recently, which talked about how far Auckland had fallen behind,
and I found that really concerning in terms of respect.
You know, all the relatives in the mainland hate the
Auckland is right, you know, they give me stick when
I go down there, and it's like a badge of dishonour,
isn't it. She's from Auckland. Really okay? But I think
(15:00):
that that is a big city sentiment that's reflected in
every country, whether it be London or Paris, or Berlin
or Sydney. It's just the way it.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Is, right.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Well, I read in the Deloitte report. Actually they did
a state of the City report for Auckland which compares
Auckland with other global s around the world. And it's
funny you bring up Paris because Paris generates this is
a quote from the report thirty one percent of France's
GDP and gets treated accordingly, which I thought was that
(15:33):
stuck out to me because do you think Auckland gets
treated accordingly?
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Very interesting, very interesting comparison. I remember Grant Robertson at
one of the I think it was the Infrastructure of
the Auckland Project events, and he was saying how difficult
it is when he was Finance minister to live in
a city that's being redeveloped. And we know that the
mayor has the War on Cones, so we know that
(15:59):
development has its price and makes it very inconvenient for people.
It's just that when development stops you sort of sit
there and look at it and think, right, what's going on.
I'm sure that development will come back. Auckland is a
huge generator of wealth. It has so many of the
growing financial services and the other spects to New Zealand's
(16:20):
economy that is so important. Fon Terra's headquarters is down
on Vanchul Street. I mean, you know, what is it
an export lead recovery. So it's a really good question
to ask about the role that Auckland plays in terms
of New Zealander. The rural growth we know at the
moment is coming from the agricultural sector, and a lot
of people who work in services have fears about job
(16:42):
loss and unemployment. Has you know, that's been something that
is a real issue now. You can only hope that
for Auckland's sake, that that dynamic nature of the city
continues and the developers will return. We need good shops,
we need good offices, We need good hotels and apartment buildings,
(17:03):
we need really good infrastructure, and I would say that's
one aspect of Auckland that hasn't had the attention it deserved.
I remember someone from Auckland Transport telling me years ago
that in nineteen fifty nine people said, why do we
need to harbor Bridge? This only Strawberry Fields on the
north shore. Lack of vision, right, And many people are
critical of the City rail Link, and I think they
(17:26):
really don't understand the difference that City rail Link is
going to make to Auckland. And I hope with that
movement and easy movement of people around the CBD that
we do see some change. There's a proposal for the
Symphony Center, like multi million dollar project of offices and
(17:47):
apartments right above the teawater y hodd A two station
on the old Bledislow car Park, the Auckland Council car
Park site. So you know, let's hope that those developers
are finding in the market the ambition and the drive
and the determination of businesses to commit and people to
buy apartments. Otherwise that scheme will not go ahead.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
And in the meantime we should tax them if they
don't do anything.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
With their land.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
It's quite a controversial idea, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Thanks for joining us, An. That's it for this episode
of the Front Page. You can read more about today's
stories and extensive news coverage at enzidherld dot co dot MZ.
The Front Page is produced by Ethan Sills and Richard Martin,
who is also our editor. I'm Chelsea Daniels. Subscribe to
(18:41):
the Front Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts,
and tune in tomorrow for another look behind the headlines.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.