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Carlaw Park, legendary home of rugby league in Auckland for many decades and the venue for many bruising tests fought by the Kiwis, will become the upmarket address for blue-chip companies in 18 months.
Work has begun on a freehold commercial development on 1.5ha of the old 2.9ha league ground.
The project will incorporate 10,000 sq m of office space across two linked buildings, 450 sq m of cafes and retail, 36 Quest Hotel apartments and six owner-occupier apartments plus 615 car parks.
Auckland-based development and investment company McDougall Reidy & Co, which bought the site from Auckland Rugby League, is happy the future of the commercial development site on the CBD fringe has been sealed.
Director Greg Reidy and his company have had a six-year involvement with the Carlaw Park project, first as joint venture partner to Auckland Rugby League and then as owner of the freehold site and the lessee's interest across the rear of the property.
The leasehold land is the site for a retirement village to be developed by McDougall Reidy & Co and operated by Vision Senior Living.
The last test was played at Carlaw Park a decade ago and it has been derelict for eight years.
Proposals over the years have ranged from a stadium for the Warriors, a bulk retail centre, a motorway intersection for the eastern arterial and a rugby stadium for the 2011 World Cup.
"It's become infamous because of other people's ideas, not ours," Reidy says.
Carlaw Park has never been in public ownership despite many people believing it belonged to the Auckland City Council.
In the 1880s, the Chinese community bought the land from the Government for just $1. In 1920, Auckland Rugby League leased the ground and then bought it in the 1970s. League will continue to earn income in perpetuity from the rear leasehold site.
"It's been an interesting and, at times, frustrating ride to finally get to the stage where we have a viable project that can definitely go ahead," Reidy says. "We have had a lot of stops and starts with roadblocks put in our way but the new development will be positive for the city."
Two months ago, the grandstand was pulled down and earthworks have started. Commercial development on the freehold site will be completed early in 2009.
The location, adjacent to the Auckland Domain, allows the natural character of the domain to be drawn into the site and this will be reflected in Warren & Mahoneys design.
"It won't be a concrete jungle," says Colliers International leasing broker Paul Dyson. He and Collier's leasing director Rob Bird are leasing 7200 sq m of the 10,000 sq m in two low-rise modern office buildings linked by a central core.
The buildings have been designed to the New Zealand Green Building Council's four-star rating. "This will be the baseline specification," says Warren & Mahoney architect John Coop. The large 1400 sq m floor plates in both buildings give total flexibility to tenants. They are 22m x 70m, with light from all sides and only a single central line of columns. A total floor area of 2800 sq m on one level can be occupied if integrated with the central core.
The connected buildings frame a main entry court that is directly across from the entry to the Quest Hotel, creating the main public space for the site. The cafe and retail tenancies are double height volumes, each with glazed canopies along their north-facing frontages. They will form a colourful base to the hotel area. Coop says the commercial coverage of the site is low and the four-level office buildings have a maximum height of 15m. The buildings are spacious, have plenty of natural light and air, and the site has broad common areas, courtyards and landscaping. Concrete, timber and metallic materials will be used in the facade. As far as possible, all materials will be of a natural finish, requiring little maintenance.
Bird says that for a working environment close to the CBD the development is a rarity.
The scale of the site has enabled Warren & Mahoney to design a fully integrated development in terms of landscaping, design, roading and simple floor plates to accommodate a range of working styles.
"We don't see the buildings as veering towards being too fashionable," Coop says. "They are a piece of infrastructure that will work well for the city. People will enjoy going there and it can accommodate change."
Although it is a mixed-use site, the buildings will be related to one another through design and the materials used. It will feel like a family of buildings rather than separate objects.
Dyson says that parking is generous at one space for every 20 sq m and is more typical of suburban centres than city fringe.
Vehicle entrance is by Nichols Lane and Carlaw Avenue, giving access to parking beneath the office buildings alongside the hotel and by the proposed retirement village.
Reidy says the hotel will be a major attraction for tenants and surrounding businesses as Quest always incorporates a ground-floor cafe off the foyer.
There is room for another cafe or restaurant in the development, which is great for an area that already has four substantial office buildings and few amenities.
Bird said it was the right time for the site to be developed after years of proposed schemes that were never quite right.
He says the property is the last large piece of commercial freehold land in the city fringe, offering the chance to establish an enduring commercial connection that is designed to be functional at a level that exceeds its immediate surroundings, with a 24-hour pedestrian link between Parnell, the Domain and the CBD.
