KEY POINTS:
A monster apartment and retail tower in Auckland will be New Zealand's second tallest building - after the Sky Tower - if it gains planning approval.
An application to build the 232m Elliott Tower has been lodged with the Auckland City Council by Korean developer Dae Ju Group.
The 67-level building will cost $450 million.
It will reach to just under the neighbouring Sky Tower's observation decks and have 259 apartments and three levels of shops.
The tower is planned for the long-vacant site at the corner of Victoria, Albert and Elliott Sts, now a carpark and site of a bungy operation.
It will be almost a third higher than Auckland's next-highest building, the 167m Vero Centre, also in the city centre.
But the Sky Tower is still the city's tallest structure at 328m.
The new building will be narrow, with most of its facade facing east and west.
It is planned to be open in time for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, said architect Gordon Moller, who also designed the Sky Tower.
Mr Moller is co-convener of the Auckland City Council's urban design panel which assesses the suitability of major building plans, but his project still had to go through panel scrutiny.
"They really put us through the mill but gave us a terrific report," he said. "This will be an iconic building, so we have made a huge effort to make sure it's the right sort of design."
Dae Ju project manager Sean Park said the company, which owns six sites in Auckland, believed the demand for rental apartments was growing.
Mr Moller said the three levels of shops planned for the building would attract shoppers to the area, which includes the Atrium on Elliott shopping centre and Auckland's oldest department store, Smith and Caughey.
Smith and Caughey managing director Andrew Caughey said he thought the new building was "fantastic".
"We would absolutely welcome it," he said. "It's a tremendous site that has been just a hole in the ground for too long."
Going up
Sky Tower 328m.
Proposed Elliott Tower 232m, 67 storeys.
Vero Centre 167m, 38 storeys.
Metropolis Apartments 155m, 39 storeys.
ANZ Centre 143m, 42 storeys.
