St James planner fancies top pad

Apartment developer Paul Doole will have the eagle's nest atop his proposed St James apartment block in Auckland if it gets built.

Norfolk Trustee property manager Angela Wells said Doole would use the top two floors on the 36-level Queen St building for his own residence.

The block is expected to become a sister tower to Andrew Krukziener's Metropolis apartment high-rise.

Krukziener also had his residence at the top of this block, commanding the city's best views.

A lobby group is scheduled to meet representatives of developers involved in the 307-unit St James proposal today to try to iron out differences about the project.

Paul Brown, of Clark Brown Architects, who designed the block for Doole, said the first tower proposal had been redesigned.

He said a series of digitally enhanced photographs of Auckland's CBD would be presented to lobby group Urban Auckland today in the hope the two could begin discussions. The images show how the apartment tower proposal could look once it is built on a site opposite the Civic Theatre.

The High Court at Auckland overturned the block's resource consent this month and ordered Auckland City Council to reconsider the application for the tower.

If the tower at 302 Queen St goes ahead, it will be called The Antipodean.