Mission Bay’s $200m face-lift
Bold plan to change a cherished beach suburb, writes Cherie Howie
Landmark waterfront buildings will make way for a $200 million, multi-storey housing and retail development if a bold plan to change the face of one of Auckland’s most cherished beach suburbs is approved.
Urban Legacy & Partners Limited, known as Urban Partners and founded under the name Retail Holdings by brothers Haydn and Mark Staples in 1983, will next week lodge a land use resource consent application with Auckland Council to demolish buildings and houses it owns on a
6527sq m block between Ta¯maki Dr, Patteson Ave and Marau Crescent in Mission Bay.
In their place, the company plans to build up to 100 apartments and townhouses, a 2920sq m hospitality and retail space, up to 265 basement and ground-level car parks and a
955sq m cinema complex with four or five theatres, all across seven buildings of varying heights up to seven storeys.
The beachfront businesses affected — popular with day trippers to one of the closest and most well-serviced beaches to downtown Auckland — run east on Ta¯maki Dr from De Fontein Belgian Beer Cafe to Andrea Ristorante Italiano, including the Hoyts Berkeley movie theatre, and south on Patteson Ave to Tana Mera Espresso.
Several houses on Marau Crescent will also be bowled under the plan, which Urban Partners requested be publicly notified.
Written submissions must be made within 20 working days after the application is notified.
Project director Doug Osborne, who has worked in the property industry for more than 40 years and leads the New Zealand office of global real estate giant Savills, said the project would bring “much needed” improvement to the commercial area and create a lasting lifestyle legacy for a favourite spot for Aucklanders and visitors.
Community interests were a priority, he said.
“We’ve put thought and care into a design that references elements of the art deco flavour of Mission Bay while providing a mix of hospitality, modern retail and recreational space for locals and visitors.”
The consent process was expected to take at least a year and construction three further years.
Urban Partners’ investment in the site dated almost 30 years and followed more than 18 months of spatial testing of the site’s opportunities and constraints, including three sessions with the council’s independent and nonstatutory Urban Design Panel.
The project was one of the first examples of a significant mixed-used project since the Unitary Plan — the blueprint for how Auckland will meet its future economic and housing needs — came into effect two years ago, Osborne said.
The site’s Business — Local Centre zoning allowed for more intensive mixed-use development than had previously occurred in Auckland’s smaller centres, he said.
The buildings’ height will peak at eight levels or 22 metres — seven storeys and a mezzanine — at the intersection of Ta¯maki Dr and Patteson Ave, with the height then gradually decreasing. Three-level-high townhouses proposed for Marau Crescent deferred to the residential zoning on the southern side of the crescent, with a lower height and “sensitive integration” with the surrounding neighbourhood, he said.
The new buildings, designed by architects The Buchan Group and with a total floor area of 35,095sq m, will also be a range of materials and colours.
There was generous integration of the project into open public spaces and a strong connection to the beachfront promenade, Osborne said.
The design referenced elements of the art deco style already present.
“The project has been designed to ensure that its scale and intensity is suitable for the iconic location and creates a gateway to the Mission Bay local centre.”
The price of the apartments is not yet known.
Community reaction was mixed when the Weekend Herald visited Mission Bay yesterday.
O¯ ra¯kei 17-year-old Jeffry Chen said the development “looks like Miami”.
“I think it’s going to be even more touristy. But [development] is inevitable.”
Papatoetoe mum Nafisa Rasheed thought the plan looked “amazing” but worried Mission Bay would become “very commercialised”.
“At the moment it’s got a look, it’s got a very classic sort of feel and it’s nice to get away from the normal big retail.”
Ricky Valdes, of Glendowie, feared the loss of the beach vibe and bigger crowds.
“From a business point of view I’m sure it’s great, but as someone who comes here to run and enjoy restaurants and chill out it doesn’t seem like a good idea.”
O¯ ra¯kei Local Board chairman Kit Parkinson said community needs had been considered and he was especially pleased a new cinema was in the plans. “The proposal is a significant upgrade to the existing cinema premises, which do not meet . . . earthquake ratings.”
But Terry Gibson, who lives on the corner of Marau Crescent and Ronaki Rd, said he feared a five-storey building could go in front of his house under the proposal.
“Whether it’s progress or not is up for debate in my opinion. Building buildings that are going to block out people’s sunlight and views is a detriment to the quality of life. Those considerations need to be really carefully assessed.” He wasn’t confident submissions helped. “If you’ve got enough money you can do just about anything in this country.”
Commercial tenants said a demolition clause in their leases meant this week’s news was no surprise.
Andrea Ristorante Italiano owner Andrea Bizzarri said the project looked “fantastic and beautiful”.
Ray White Mission Bay Maguire’s One Team chief executive Wayne Maguire also welcomed change.
“[Mission Bay] is a world class location and now it just needs world class living and dining.”
Mission Bay is one of Auckland’s many treasures. The long arc of sandy beachfront, po¯hutukawas edging the promenade, a view out to the rise of Rangitoto, a municipal marble fountain, seagulls, families and fish ’n’ chips. All elements which draw visitors from the city and beyond to the seaside suburb year round.
The neighbourhood has a special history too. In 1860 the stone building near the beach — then a church mission house, now an upscale restaurant — hosted the historic Kohimarama Conference, an important occasion in New Zealand history when Ma¯ori leaders held a ru¯naga with Pa¯keha¯ officials.
One hundred chiefs gathered, and as many refused to attend a forum which Governor Thomas Gore Browne hoped would prevent fighting in Taranaki spilling to other regions.
As we report today, there is a plan to transform the suburb, or at least a significant part of the existing commercial area which separates the waterfront public space from nearby residential properties.
The $200 million proposal for a mixed multi-story housing and retail space would, if approved, give the area quite a different look and feel. The designs published today indicate the new streetscape on T¯amaki Drive could open a fresh episode in the history of Mission Bay.
Not everyone will like it but there is no doubt it could give the famous surburb a new lease of life.
The project involves turning a popular but somewhat nondescript strip of cafes, restaurants and takeaway shops into a modern hospitality, retail and residential development.
Urban Legacy & Partners, the company behind the plan, is filling a suburban block inwards and upwards in a way that embraces the possibilities offered in Auckland’s Unitary Plan. The business local centre zoning permits more intensive mixed-use development than under previous planning rules.
The company says the scale and intensity of the project is in keeping with the location. Its plans show seven buildings of varying heights, colours and materials with laneways leading into to the centre of the development.
The design of the buildings, with their soft rounded corners, suggest the architects want to retain the artdeco flavour of Mission Bay.
On the corner of Patteson Avenue and Ta¯maki Drive, the engineers want to go up eight levels, with the top of the development losing height as it edges away along the adjoining roads. The appealing Berkeley cinema would get a makeover and be fitted with as many as five theatres. It would be reached along pedestrian walkways.
Up to 100 apartments and as many as 265 carparks are proposed, which signals the developers firmly believe their design and ambition will deliver the kind of modern urban lifestyle that appeals to many Aucklanders — those who want a smaller place, and somewhere to park the car.
It must be said that several houses will be knocked down to make way for the project, and some of the existing commercial tenants will be moving on. Objectors will have an opportunity to make their points when the consent is heard as Urban Partners have requested that their application is publicly notified.
The Mission Bay plan offers a glimpse of how Auckland suburbs could change their clothes yet retain their identity.
In the past, multistorey blocks have sprung up without many obvious link to their surrounds.
The Mission Bay project would seem determined to retain the connections, and is that much better for it.
With history on the doorstep — or out the window — the next chapter of Mission Bay is set to be as enduring as the last.