"Newmarket has about 189,000sq m of office space, Greenlane about 212,000sq m but we're planning about 200,000sq m at the airport," he says, telling of plans for the area to become an "aerotropolis", a mini-city with all the services, buildings and infrastructure - except housing, barred by noise levels.
Heading towards a new mini-office park precinct behind the BNZ off George Bolt Memorial Drive, Alexander shows how new four-level 850sq m offices designed by Jasmax are being built by Scarboro Construction for AIAL on Leonard Isitt Drive.
AIAL is now housed in offices on level one of the international terminal. But soon it will move about 1km to Quad5 where a fitness centre will be on the ground floor, AIAL on level one and 1055sq m floor plates above are up for lease.
Leonard Isitt Drive has been straightened, realigned and new footpaths have been built.
"The aim is to create more of a walking area rather than stranding buildings out in the middle of carparks which was the old way of doing it," Alexander says.
The neighbouring new two-star $15.5 million Formule1, managed by France's Accor, has 125 guest rooms but Alexander expects to develop 75 more as demand increases "maybe in the next two years".
Under the hotel, 700sq m of retail space is occupied by 2degrees, Habitual Fix, Roka Sushi and Donburi and Jamaica Blue are retail tenants in the building.
Across the road, the new $3.5 million Travel Careers & Training School is up for cabin crew, flight attendants, travel agency and tourism professionals. This has all been built south of the existing airport shopping zone which has a Countdown supermarket, Warehouse and other shops east of George Bolt Memorial Drive.
"The supermarket is too small. It over-trades and doesn't carry a full range and campervans go there and stock up," Alexander says, talking of plans for a much bigger supermarket.
The Landing is the biggest slice of empty land, northwest of the international terminal. In May, Toll Global Forwarding committed to a $12.4 million building, joining Expeditors, NZ Van Lines, Mercedes, DSV and the NZ Food Innovation Centre.
In June, plan changes became operative which allowed the area to change from rural zonings to the Mangere Gateway Business Zone.
"That clarifies what we can do and there will be 23ha of public open space here, half the size of Auckland Domain," Alexander says.
Toll's building will be up in April.
Not everyone loves the new airport developments. The new Notovel was criticised on chat forum Property Talk for not providing a covered walkway to the terminal and being oddly sited, a bizarre placement, its form not relating to anything in the vicinity.
But the wider vision to develop the airport is now in place.
The hub Alexander calls terminal city attracts what he terms clusters or poles of interaction.
"About 70 per cent of all visitors to New Zealand arrive or leave from here. This is the second-largest port by value behind Ports of Auckland."
As part of the diversification in property development, Alexander points to a new paintball game park being finished ready for the school holidays which start on Monday.
The park is in Nixon Rd, next to the airport's golf-driving range and will offer players 10 scenario fields, including Custer's last stand, a UFO landing, the D-Day invasion, Mad Max and a jungle-themed Vietnam field.
A new overnight fully automated campervan park is being developed on Jimmy Ward Cres for under $2 million.
Alexander says tourists desperately need this 60-van park, either at the start of their tour or the end, to coordinate with flights and their travel arrangements and purely for safety so tired travellers do not drive.
"We see this as a business need but also playing our part in tourism. People will book for this online with a credit card, put the same card into a reader when you get here and be allocated a space. The park will have communal facilities and a tank for pumping out," he says.
"We did the research, which suggested demand, and found a shortage of campsites for tourists."
In August, the 2800sq m Manukau Food Innovation Centre was finished in Verissimo Drive at The Landing, offering preparation, chiller and freezer areas for mini-dry runs of new product ranges, allowing manufacturers to develop and test products for commercialisation, particularly in the fast-moving consumer goods market.
Simon Moutter, the airport chief executive, said it became apparent when he took up his role that the airport had a lot of high-quality development land available.
"It was also pretty clear that we weren't doing as good a job as we could of getting new property deals off the ground. This land represents one of the best property development assets in the country, alongside the country's biggest transport hub.
"It offers tremendous opportunities to a wide range of industries and potential tenants."
But the lack of a clear development strategy meant the airport had been selling itself short, he said.
"While we had a significant and strategically located land asset, until now we didn't have a coherent development plan that explained what development land we have available and what sort of businesses it would best suit. We just weren't offering enough flexibility and determination to work with the real estate industry in order to close the deals."
He cites Where New Zealand Touches The World by Martyn Thompson and Alice Clements as the definitive version of how the old Mangere Aerodrome Auckland Aero Club became Auckland International Airport. The book describes how farm paddocks became a South Pacific hub, fulfilling Alexander's vision of an aerotropolis.
Development hubs
Auckland Airport Business District
1500ha of land of which 443ha is available for development. The main precincts/projects are:
The Quad: New office precinct behind BNZ on George Bolt Memorial Drive, new Formule1 Hotel, new AIAL offices rising.
The Landing: New business park to the north of international terminal for logistics, warehouse, bordering the Oruarangi Creek and linking to the 100ha Otuataua Stonefields historical reserve.
The Common: 111ha northern block, recreational and heritage area, low-density natural environment and includes Abbeville Farm Estate,11ha, historic precinct for weddings, conventions, opening in March.
Altitude: East of The Quad, entertainment, retail and education precinct for services for airport users, particularly tourists, and trade and airport workers.
Terminal precinct: Current and future international and domestic passenger terminal buildings and services for airport users such as hotels, parking buildings and rental cars. New domestic terminal to be built west of existing international terminal.
Cargo South: Largely developed, both sides of George Bolt Memorial Drive up to Tom Pearce Drive, operational heart of the airport, sites for new facilities and existing warehouse and office space.
Cargo North: Facing Manu Tapu Drive and George Bolt Memorial Drive. Suitable for businesses seeking larger footprints but close to ground-handling and Customs services.
Southwestern Airport Multi-modal Corridor Project: Rail link from Auckland CBD to airport, now under study.
