Culum Manson at 30 Daldy St in Wynyard Quarter where Mansons TCLM is building the huge new office block. Photo / Alex Burton
So you thought the office block and demand for new Auckland commercial premises had died?
Think again.
Culum Manson of New Zealand’s largest privately-owned commercial developer, Mansons TCLM, said work was up to level three of a new seven-level twin-block $550 million project at what the family-owned business is marketing as Thirty Daldy, Wynyard Quarter.
More than 3000 people will eventually work in those new offices, he said of the building with air bridges in a glassed atrium.
Manson is so confident about leasing the 24,093 sq m premises at 30 Daldy St neighbouring Air New Zealand’s world headquarters that it sought no previous publicity about this project.
Although completion is looming next year, no tenants have yet been announced.
Manson said he was in advanced negotiations with a number and expected the building to be fully leased this year, well ahead of completion.
He showed progress on the site where two of the company’s five tower cranes are swinging.
Building A on the Beaumont St side is to be six levels and building B on the CBD side is to be seven.
Colliers noted strong leasing demand for high-quality new 6-Green Star blocks like this. The agency’s second-half 2023 Auckland CBD office survey noted the first fall in empty offices since December 2019 “indicating improved market sentiment”. The overall vacancy rate nudged down from 12.9 per cent to 12.5 per cent in six months.
“There is currently 84,200sq m of space under construction, which will represent 11 per cent of the prime grade Auckland office stock upon completion. Strong tenant pre-commitment is evident. However it is likely that securing leases for lower-quality premises that require sizeable backfilling will take time,” the survey found.
Chris Dibble, Colliers’ strategic advisory director, said leasing Thirty Daldy won’t be difficult.
“When you look back at Manson’s very strong track record, they’re extremely successful. If we can use history as guidance, demand is going to be pretty strong for that building. Wynyard Quarter is highly desirable for tenants and has hardly any vacancies, even with all the Precinct Properties’ new developments. It’s a great location and this new building will be a high-green star-rated premise,” Dibble said.
He has no doubt the buildings will be fully leased well ahead of completion.
Mansons TCLM was ranked by a survey published in the Herald last year as New Zealand’s busiest developer.
The BCI Construction League out last April said Mansons then had $857m of work at three huge sites:
This month, Manson compared Thirty Daldy’s environmental features to the company’s new $650m Fifty Albert offices in the CBD, which giant Asian fund PAG has Overseas Investment Office clearance to buy on completion.
All up, Mansons has $1.2b of work in the CBD: $650m at Fifty Albert and $550m at Thirty Daldy.
Mansons expects to finish Fifty Albert for Spark, Milford Asset Management and others towards the end of this year.
The site at 30 Daldy St is unusual because it is one of the rare freehold blocks of land in an area with mainly leasehold plots owned by Auckland Council’s Eke Panuku.
Mansons bought the block between Daldy St, Pakenham St, Beaumont St and Gaunt St but sold part of it to NZX-listed Winton Land.
Winton chief executive Chris Meehan is marketing the $750m Northbrook Wynyard Quarter for that portion of the site, the first planned vertical retirement village in central Auckland.
Meehan is asking $13.75m for two penthouses in a 12-level block. Northbrook Wynyard Quarter is set to be New Zealand’s highest-price retirement village; occupation right agreements on two double-height penthouses with a 30 per cent deferred management fee resulting in $4.1m being paid after four years.
The $1.3b schemes by Mansons and Winton on the Wynyard block is a major upscaling of plans last decade by another developer.
Chinese-owned Fuh Wa planned a 435-unit apartment and retail complex which the company’s local development manager Richard Aitken said would be a $400m scheme. But it never went ahead and instead sold the land to Mansons.
Fu Wah New Zealand applied for resource consent to build on the entire block last decade when it was also building the $300m Park Hyatt.
Culum Manson said Thirty Daldy would be two buildings with a glass atrium. Mansons TCLM dug down on the site to create an extensive basement with bike and car parks with recharging stations.
“It’s a big central atrium building with two distinctive wings,” Manson said.
Thirty Daldy’s ground floor will have a cafe, retail, extensive end-of-trip facilities and a wellness centre.
The building has been designed to achieve a 6-star rating and build certification from the NZ Green Building Council.
The site’s proximity to major public transport hubs like bus stops on Fanshawe St would reduce tenants’ dependency on cars, specifications said.
Manson said the project would be a leader in office buildings.
“This development represents our second 120 per cent carbon offset building that not only provides a world leader in sustainable features but will also be New Zealand’s second platinum wellness-rated asset. This building will result in an entire native forest being planted and preserved. One native species will be planted for every square metre constructed, dedicated in perpetuity as part of Thirty Daldy,” he said.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, has won many awards, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
Scott Carr has had many leadership roles over a 35-year span.