06 July 2010
Auckland Airport is now one of the most active property development programmes in the country.
Auckland Airport announced today it has generated approximately $115 million worth of property development (under construction or committed) in the Airport Business District over the past 12 months, after confirming four new projects last week.
Auckland Airport chief executive Simon Moutter said, “The four new deals confirmed total $29 million in value and have taken us well over the $100 million mark in activity. That puts the Airport Business District amongst the most intensive commercial property development programmes in New Zealand, and Auckland Airport as one of the most active commercial property developers, a feat all the more impressive given the challenging operating conditions that the industry has experienced recently.”
This reinvigoration of commercial property development activity in the last year is consistent with the Auckland Airport growth strategy, to make the most of its assets and shift resourcing into areas where accelerated growth can be achieved.
The four new projects confirmed in the last week include a food innovation centre with New Zealand Food Innovation Manukau. This is a 2000sqm export certified purpose-built plant to support food manufacturers to develop and test products for commercialisation, specifically for the fast moving consumer goods market. This exciting initiative is strongly supported by the Ministry of Economic Development and is expected to act as a magnet tenant for associated food businesses.
Another of the four new projects is a training facility for Travel Careers & Training to be located in the Quad precinct of the Airport Business District, close to the previously-announced Formule 1 hotel development. This facility will be used for airline, travel and tourism training by Travel Careers & Training, who run three private training schools covering around 80% of the airline, travel and tourism training market in New Zealand. The building will feature striking double height glazing to showcase a Boeing 737 training fuselage.
Also confirmed is a commercial office building of approximately 4900sqm lettable space located within the Quad precinct. This office building will be designed by Jasmax and is expected to set a high architectural standard for the precinct. 3100sqm of this area will be office and commercial space available for occupation in March 2012, with a further 1800sqm reserved for some of Auckland Airport’s corporate office requirements. Auckland Airport’s current office space at the international terminal will be made available for lease, and strong demand for this space has already been signalled.
The fourth of the projects confirmed last week is a 3600sqm office and warehouse facility for DSV Air & Sea Limited in The Landing precinct. DSV is today a multi-national warehousing, transportation and freight forwarding company, and is one of the largest integrated logistics companies in the world.
These four new developments accompany other recent Auckland Airport development successes, including two new hotels, a Novotel and a Formule 1, a deal to relocate the parts warehouse of luxury global car brand Mercedes into a 2900sqm office/warehouse facility in the Landing precinct of the Airport Business District, and a 2200sqm office building pre-leased to a government tenant, due for completion in July 2010.
A key driver of this recent success has been a new development strategy for the Airport Business District, providing prospective tenants with flexible options for quality accommodation in a secure environment close to New Zealand’s largest transport hub.
Auckland Airport general manager property Peter Alexander said, “Our new strategy has been instrumental in delivering these deals. This land represents one of the best property development assets in the country, alongside New Zealand’s premier transport hub. It offers tremendous opportunities to a wide range of industries and potential tenants”.
“Auckland Airport intends to develop an Airport Business District to match the likes of Singapore, Hong Kong, Seoul and Dubai airports in acting as a hive of economic activity, and a world-class business experience in its own right.
With more than 18 million people passing through each year, and tipped for stronger than average growth over the next decade, businesses are seeing the Auckland Airport Business District as the best place to locate.
“We believe Auckland Airport has a pivotal part to play in helping Auckland realise its long-term ambitions as a global city, and our property development activity will play a role in that”, said Alexander.
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