Hengyi Pacific’s new The Lighthouse on Elizabeth St in Melbourne is a 69-level tower. Hengyi’s Dean Fossey takes us to the top.
Foundation work has been completed on the site of New Zealand's tallest planned new building, the $300 million 57-level Pacifica apartment, hotel and retail project in Auckland.
Groundworks are advancing at the site near the waterfront and opposite Britomart in the city centre.
How The Pacifica's glass facade could look when finished.
Dan Ashby, New Zealand general manager of builder Icon Co, said: "The piling work has been completed, with 57 piles going 25m to 30m down. This was the first major exercise on The Pacifica and we're running slightly ahead of time.
"Now we are excavating lift pits and beginning preparations for pouring the foundation raft slab that will complete the base. Tower cranes and a specialised jump form will be on site in April and May, when the vertical build phase will begin,"Ashby said.
But pre-sale information is unavailable. Gavin Lloyd CBRE's national projects director said: "Although I cannot give you the number of apartments sold, I can say that we have generated around $250 million in sales to date, with deposits taken for all sales."
That is up from the $200m reported in September, he said.
The site at 10 Commerce Street runs through to Gore St behind, between Customs St East and Fort St, parallel with Fort Lane. Hengyi Pacific, the developers headquartered for Australasia in Melbourne, are also active in Australia where they are working on a taller tower.
The Pacifica is to have 282 apartments as well as a boutique hotel on the lower levels and shops at street level.
Marketing of the planned units there began last year and Lloyd said most deposits were paid by locals who intended to live there, not foreigners or investor landlords.
Construction is due to finish by 2020.
Plans for the pool in The Pacifica.
In Melbourne, Hengyi's first project was The William, an office block conversion of two adjacent buildings - a 23-storey tower on William St and a 21-storey building in Little Bourke St. That has an outdoor pool and a hotel.
The Pacifica site, where piling has been completed.
That was followed by the Light House project on Elizabeth St in the Melbourne CBD. The newly opened 69-level, 607-apartment tower is distinctive for its colour and angular floor plates.
It has almost a Rubik's Cube look, all angles, colours and jutting points, making it stand out strongly on the city skyline. Melbourne developers are not afraid of colour - a big difference to Auckland. Elenberg Fraser were the architects and Multiplex Constructions built it.
Construction work under way at The Pacifica site.
Hengyi is now working on Swanston Central, designed by the same architect, a 72-level, 1039-apartment project nearby at 168 Victoria St in Melbourne's Carlton neighbourhood. Level 69 of Light House provides a bird's eye view of Multiplex's progress on Swanston Central.
