TUG of WHERE
Westgate landowners gutted by council’s choice to build new northern staff hub at Albany, writes Anne Gibson
Auckland Council’s decision to move 1250 workers to new hubs to the north and south has disappointed Westgate landowners after their bid for a new hub was rejected in favour of Albany being picked for that northern area.
Mark Gunton, chairman and founder of NZ Retail Property Group, and Philip Littlewood, chief executive of Stride which owns Westgate’s North-West Shopping Centre, said they had hoped the council would pick their new expanding town centre.
Instead, Albany was chosen, partly due to it having the Northern Busway. Westgate has been waiting for years for a new bus terminal — from the very same council which developed the busway and picked Albany over Westgate, they said.
Craig Hobbs, the council’s regulatory services director, said the new Albany hub could be completed by 2022 but he did not say precisely how many of the 1250 workers would move there.
Submissions to get some of those office workers to their area came from Silverdale, Smales Farm, Westgate, New Lynn and Albany, Hobbs said.
“Respondents were asked to provide information relating to development preparedness, design, developer track record and commercial readiness, local amenities, connectivity to motorway infrastructure and distance to a major public transport hub. It proved to be a difficult decision; however, the selected shortlisted sites are all in Albany,” Hobbs said.
“The hub is expected to be completed by mid-2022. No decisions on which staff will be re-locating have been made at this stage,” Hobbs said.
The Herald reported last year how new hubs were expected to be established at Albany, Manukau and the CBD. Staff from Orewa, Takapuna and Henderson could move to Albany in three year’s time but a council statement said some services in the Waitakere council building would be retained.
Gunton said of the Albany choice: “That would have been great for Westgate. So many people live in this area and surrounding suburbs yet travel out of here for work. A significant part of Westgate’s growth is planned to be offices,” he said, referring to the town’s live-work-play objectives.
Littlewood said the council’s vision for the northwest corridor aligned with his company’s and he had hoped for collaboration “so we were disappointed at the council’s decision to locate its new northwest hub at Albany”.
The council has identified expanding employment in the area as an objective yet there was lack of employment in the area, adding to Auckland traffic woes, he said.
“The outcome of this decision will achieve the opposite of this objective by taking employment out of the
northwest,” Littlewood said.
If the council had picked Westgate, that would have been a catalyst for further development and reinforced the new town’s expansion. Albany was picked because it had more developed public transport services yet the council planned those for Westgate but never built them, he said.
Auckland Transport says no agreement can be reached with NZRPG on the new bus terminal’s location and Gunton acknowledged AT’s choice to have buses going through the town square was unacceptable to him.
Littlewood cited “significant demand” from 150,000 locals for better public transport “and we strongly encourage the council and AT to implement these services. The expected population growth of over 40,000 people in the future will only increase the need”.
But Gunton and Littlewood acknowledged the council’s contribution to their area via the new library and community building, Te Manawa and the new town park.
John Watson, a councillor for the Albany ward, said: “We’re pretty sceptical about this hub concept.”
He cited concerns about council staff and ratepayers travelling further distances and out of their local areas to the new council offices.
Watson is also worried about the loss of connection between the council and local communities, hollowing out smaller areas such as Orewa and Takapuna and the sale of properties like the council’s Orewa offices which had a $20m upgrade just before the Super City’s arrival.
Saying maintenance was needed on such buildings was “a ruse” Watson said, as the Orewa building was partly new and in good condition.
Council executives said the new northwest hub was for operational staff. Some of the 1250 staff will be in Manukau.