Roading network spurs sale
The Government’s $500 million plan to upgrade and develop what is forecast to be one of Auckland’s busiest arterial routes has spurred the sale of a substantial and strategic block of residential development land adjacent to the new roading network.
Th Auckland Transport Alignment Project document released last month highlighted the commitment to expand the Mill Rd corridor connecting Manukau and Drury to the Southern Motorway.
The four-lane link will connect future residential development in the southern parts of Auckland’s urban boundaries, with employment hubs in the north — particularly around Manukau.
The major road-widening will include bus lanes, cycle lanes, walking paths, and the restoration of flora and fauna wetlands along its periphery.
Transport Minister Phil Twyford is on record saying that investment in the Mill Rd Corridor is considered absolutely essential.
“Even with the public transport network absorbing around 20 percent of new trips and the Southern Motorway widening, major increases in car travel would create chokepoints on roads around Papakura and Drury without it.
“Improvements need to be made along the Mill Rd corridor over the next decade to improve the resilience of Auckland’s transport system and to support growth along the route.”
Meanwhile, Bayleys Counties reports that following the announcement of the half-a-billion dollar infrastructure project, a 27ha block of land immediately adjacent to Mill Rd has been placed on the market for sale.
Salesperson Peter Sullivan says the Alfriston block is less than 2km from State Highway 1, in what is destined to be be one of Auckland’s fastest growing urban areas as the city expands to the south-east. It has been specifically identified by Auckland Transport as being of strategic town-planning importance in the region.
The land has historically been zoned rural — sustaining a cattle finishing farm, but was rezoned for future urban use under the Auckland Council Unitary Plan.
Now the flat terrain freehold block — bordered by Wastney, Ranfurly, Alfriston and Mill Roads — is for by tender
process, closing at 4pm on May 31.
“As a result of the Auckland Transport Alignment Project announcement for Mill Rd, the owners of this property have decided to capitalise on what has virtually overnight become an incredible opportunity for this location,” Sullivan says.
“Auckland Transport’s forecast is that traffic volumes along the expressway will double within 15 years as part of sustaining a rapid population growth seeking dwellings in new urban locations,” he adds.
“More than 22,000 new homes are proposed for the area — with about 10,000 of those dwellings in Special Housing Areas already designated by Auckland Council, that are likely to be fast-tracked to free up land sooner rather than later.”
Sullivan says a large parcel of rolling countryside farmland in the Totara Park area to the north of the Wastney Rd site is on the verge of becoming a new housing enclave as residential expansion moved east from Goodwood Heights suburb.
“Likewise, the suburb of Randwick Park to west of the Wastney Rd land was at capacity — with new home creep now moving east.
“With Auckland’s urban expansion encroaching from two sides of the compass, the Wastney Rd, Ranfurly Rd, Alfriston Rd and Mill Rd block sits at the apex of the next concentric ring of a city moving ever outward into what was once the city’s rural hinterland,” Sullivan says.
“The value of this land lies in its future use as a residential destination, rather than its historical use as rural productive countryside.”
Sullivan says urban expansion in locations such as Goodwood Heights and Randwick Park is fundamental to fast-tracking the Mill Rd corridor project, and other works identified in the Auckland Transport Alignment Project.