E-commerce influences $200m mall development
The rise of online shopping has influenced the look and feel of a $200 million shopping mall being built to service a new Auckland town.
Todd Property and the Auckland Council’s development agency, Panuku, have started construction of a 4.5-hectare town centre at Ormiston, in the South Auckland suburb of Flat Bush.
The town centre will feature 100 business tenants, a three-level parking structure, and four anchor tenants including The Warehouse, a Hoyts cinema complex, an existing Pak’n Save, and an additional supermarket.
It will also include a gym, library and aquatic centre.
By comparison Auckland’s largest shopping centre, Sylvia Park, is 24ha and has more than 200 stores.
Todd Property managing director Evan Davies said groundwork started on the Ormiston town centre in October and development was expected to be completed by 2020.
The town centre, located next to Barry Curtis Park, was designed to integrate with the urban landscape via streets, alleyways and public open spaces, in contrast to traditional closed-in malls, he said.
The centre would have a focus on food and entertainment, featuring a dining lane, a food hall and a restaurant precinct, he said.
‘‘It will have a larger portion of food and beverage than you would usually expect to see,’’ Davies said.
The rise of online shopping meant that bricks and mortar retail had to be focused more on ‘‘lifestyle and experience’’, he said.
About half of the land area had already been leased, he said.
When completed, businesses there would provide jobs for hundreds of people, he said.
The Todd Property-Panuku partnership will also result in the construction of 700 homes at a 19ha development in Ormiston, with 129 homes either completed or under construction.
Panuku chief executive Roger MacDonald said the developers had taken a greenfield site and turned it into an entirely new masterplanned community.
‘‘In time, Ormiston could provide a blueprint for how we take other townships in Auckland forward to provide for the growing population,’’ MacDonald said.
Previously a dairy farming community, Ormiston’s population was predicted to increase by 36,000 in the next 10 years.