Ellerslie looks to lease part of racecourse for development

A multimillion-dollar redevelopment of Ellerslie Racecourse is being planned which could result in a string of large office blocks, a recreation centre, houses and a hotel rising there soon.

The Auckland Racing Club has applied to Auckland City to have 2.6ha of its 55.8ha site rezoned to allow redevelopment.

Auckland Racing Club chief executive Chris Weaver said four office blocks were being planned for a large block of land where the Ellerslie Car Fair is held at weekends.

A hotel, recreation centre or residential developments could rise on surplus land near the convention centre, he said.

The club holds only 26 race meetings annually, he said, and needed to pull in money by leasing land which had become surplus to its needs.

The large carparking area where the car fair is staged alongside the Southern Motorway was a gently sloping site which fell 12m on a gradual incline, so 600 carparks could be built on two levels beneath the line of proposed office blocks to enable the fair to continue on weekends, he said. These carparks would be used by office tenants during the week and could also be made available to race-goers if needed.

Weaver said the club had vowed not to sell the land but instead to lease it so it could generate revenue.

"The land we have at Ellerslie is our most valuable asset and we don't intend to start selling it," he said.

Consultants Boffa Miskell had prepared plans which Weaver said would result in commercial developments being built alongside each other, like the line of new office blocks on Carlton Gore Rd in Newmarket.

Auckland City planner Sarah Nairn prepared a report on the plan change showing what the club had in mind.

"The club has identified other areas of land at the Ellerslie Racecourse that are now either only used occasionally or which are costly to maintain and which are not essential to the club's continuing activities," she wrote.

The club wanted a 2.6ha slice of land between the motorway and the Avenue of Palms on the south-western corner to have the zoning changed from open space to business use.

The report recommended the club's application for a zoning change be accepted and notified for submissions.

Plans were announced in January for the Avondale Jockey Club to lease out part of its racecourse land for commercial uses. Property managers from large-format shopping stores, medical centre owners and retirement home operators have made approaches, seeking a portion of the 30ha.

Racing to build

* Falling racing patronage has led Ellerslie Racecourse to decide to lease out land for redevelopment.

* Cash problems means clubs are looking at new uses for their large and valuable land holdings.

* The Greenlane frontage to Ellerslie Racecourse has already beenredeveloped and has a line of commercial buildings, including a private hospital and hotel.

* Avondale Racecourse said earlier this year it would lease land to developers.