Takapuna, Milford, Castor Bay, Forrest Hill and Sunnynook VERED FORTNIGHTLY AN INDEPENDENT VOICE Issue 1 – 15 March 2019
TNIGHTLY DELIVERED FORTNIGHTLY AN2019 INDEPENDENT VOICE AN INDEPENDENT VOICE 147 – March 21,12025 Issue 1 – 15Issue March 2019 Issue – 15 March
VERED FORTNIGHTLY
Honey, they shrank the local board... p2
Issue 1 – 15 March 2019 Quick work foils car thief... p7
AN INDEPENDENT VOICE
Takapuna chases cricket premiership... p10
Developer still bullish amid projects slowdown Commercial property investor Elliot Knight says he is “doubling down’’ on Takapuna, despite the slow pace of town-centre apartment developments. Knight, who lives locally, said he took a long-term approach to buying and tenanting commercial buildings, meaning he was not worried that big town-centre projects in the pipeline from other developers are not yet under construction. “Success is not driven by what happens in the next six months,” he said. Knight’s comment – made to the Observer on the first day’s trading for the Takapuna Surf Club, in his building at 111 Hurstmere Rd – comes as apartment developers are holding off intended projects, such as the Takapuna Central apartments on the Anzac St public car-park site, in an uncertain market. Yet he has new retail and office projects on the go and more in the pipeline. Willis Bond said in November it would begin selling its 11-storey Takapuna Central early this year, with a view to breaking ground in late 2025. But when asked by the Observer for an update this week it provided no specific dates. “Construction has not yet commenced as our focus is on preparing for marketing,” said its managing director – development, David McGuinness. “With resource consent secured, we remain committed to bringing this project to life.” It continues to take registrations of interest on what is the first of the central sites it has a staged agreement to buy from Auckland Council property arm Eke Panuku. A start date on the consented 39-storey
Local team behind new Takapuna bar
Shore boys... Two of the Five Fellas, the company behind the new Takapuna Surf Club, Reuben Ruscoe (left) and Andrew Roborgh (right) and building owner Elliot Knight. Story, page 3. build-to-rent tower being developed by a trans-Tasman consortium, including McDonnell Developments, on the old gasometer site next to the Toka Puia car-park is also unclear. It will be Takapuna’s tallest building. At a recent Devonport-Takapuna Local Board meeting, acting chair Terence Harpur said it looked likely HND TS Ltd would be
the first big town-centre project to begin construction, when work starts on its four-block complex of up to 10-storeys on the former Colmar Brunton site, with Willis Bond next off the mark. Harpur, who is also Takapuna Beach Business Association chief executive, later To page 3