Renaissance for Eden Terrace area

Eden Terrace is undergoing a major commercial property renaissance as building owners, investors and developers awaken to the area’s unique development potential, according to an industry veteran.

Alan Haydock, director of Bayleys Real Estate’s Auckland City & Fringe team, said the historic precinct on the city’s southern fringe incorporating Eden Terrace and Newton was undergoing a rapid revitalisation as sites were redeveloped to make full use of their 21st century potential.

CBD and city fringe specialist Haydock said a number of evolving market factors were adding new life to the precinct and changing the face of an area which has repeatedly transformed itself since Auckland’s earliest days.

A flurry of sales activity was seeing owners of smaller commercial and light industrial properties cash up and pass the baton to developers to progress new projects.

Haydock’s City & Fringe sales team currently has five standalone freehold properties listed for sale in the area: Two at 4-6 and 9 Dundonald Street, and three properties at 44, 46-48 and 52 New North Road within a few

hundred metres of a new Mt Eden CRL Station.

‘‘The logical option is intensified residential, or in some instances character office developments, which better utilise a site’s potential – and we’re seeing these projects play out across the precinct,’’ Haydock said.

‘‘Vendors are often small investors who recognise the addvalue or development potential of their property – but may lack the personal resources, expertise or inclination to tackle the required work.’’

Among the drivers of change in the area is construction of the City Rail Link (CRL). The Eden Terrace/Newton precinct will be served by two key stations on the CRL, which are expected to stimulate residential and mixeduse intensification in surrounding areas.

Haydock said this stimulus was being amplified by other factors, including an evolution of the office and residential property markets as Covid-19 accelerates moves towards a more dispersed workforce and working from home. This was lifting demand for smaller offices outside the CBD and in some cases conversions of older office stock to housing.

‘‘Adding further to the impetus for change is the prevalence in the Eden Terrace and

Newton areas of zoning supportive of intensification with multistorey residential and mixed-use projects,’’ said Haydock.

The Business – Mixed Use zoning that underlies much of the precinct allows for new residential accommodation projects along with mostly smaller scale commercial uses.

‘‘With permitted activities including residential, offices, retail, food and beverage and healthcare, would-be developers are afforded a wide range of options – particularly for apartment developments or mixed-use projects combining commercial activities below multi-level residential complexes.’’

In recognition of the area’s potential, Auckland Council has developed the Newton and Eden Terrace Plan 2016-2046 to promote continued development.

‘‘Today’s flexible and intensive zoning allows for redevelopment of existing properties on a significant scale – and this is triggering a step-change in the value owners and would-be developers are seeing in these city-fringe sites.’’

Properties like the 1970’s commercial building on the corner of Korari Street, at 52 New North Road (circled in red) are coming onto the market and being redeveloped to make full use of their 21st century potential. Eden Terrace’s city fringe location and proximity to future CRL stations has it in high demand.