Ikea’s debut New Zealand store is the largest new Auckland building out of 53 projects planned, rising or just completed, although data centres dominate new stock overall, a survey found.
Zoltan Moricz, CBRE’s head of New Zealand research and executive director, has studied the biggest office, retail and industrial building developments where physical work was considered imminent, had started, or was nearing completion.
He carried out the study with colleagues Shang (Roger) Du and Bianca Cornforth and released the findings to the Herald.
Industrial projects dominate new supply, the study found, comprising 65% of the total new pipeline net lettable area.
New Auckland building supply is:
All up, the list has 504,000sq m of new industrial, retail, and commercial projects.
Industrial the giant
New industrial buildings dominate the development sector.
The airport corridor, East Tāmaki and Drury, have the largest new industrial development projects planned, under way or nearing completion.
“Ikea and DHL’s warehouses, each over 20,000sq m on Te Kapua Drive, will be completed in mid-2025,” the CBRE study said referring to the Landing precinct at Auckland Airport.
Cardinal’s second warehouse and Freight Direct’s warehouse are the two big developments in Drury, being built now, commentary with the survey said.
Data centres account for 33% of new industrial supply: “Auckland has seven data centres being built now: four in west and three in north Auckland. Another data centre development potentially in the core CBD is still in the early stage,” commentary with the study said.
“Data centres are a notable part of the industrial supply pipeline. In our numbers, they account for nearly 84,000sq m of the 253,000sq m under construction.
James Spence, Goodman Property Trust chief executive, told the Herald in November that market fundamentals were strong for Auckland industrial property.
He cited low vacancy and significant growth in market rents during the last couple of years - it has been the movements in interest rates that have been the main driver of valuation outcomes for Goodman, he said.
Retail - second busiest for new buildings
On the retail development front, Ikea dominates, having announced in 2024 it would invest a massive $407 million in New Zealand with its store and warehouse.
The Ikea store at 34,000sq m will be the ninth largest retail space in Auckland. There are only eight retail centres - shopping and large format retail centres - that are bigger.
The second biggest retail development in Auckland after Ikea is the new Maki Centre at Westgate on Auckland’s north-western fringe, CBRE found.
That is an 18,000sq m project. The Maki Centre is on the same side of the road as Mitre 10 Mega, across the road from New Zealand’s first Costco. The new under-development centre is directly beside Costco Fuel.
Directly behind Costco Fuel, a number of new drive-through fast-food outlets were developed and opened in 2024.
Third-largest new Auckland retail development according to CBRE is by Glen Inger and it is the Kowhai Falls retail centre’s building b and c on Woodcocks Rd, Warkworth. That is a 6500sq m development.
Foodstuffs North Island’s new Pak’nSave Highland Park in east Auckland is the fourth largest. That $100m investment is bringing 6391sq m of new grocery shopping space on a gently sloping 2.09ha site at 503 Pakuranga Rd.
The single-level Highland Park building is on the prominent corner of Highland Park Dr and Aviemore Dr. It is New Zealand’s largest under-construction supermarket. Shoppers will have 329 car parks. Shane Hartner’s Legacy Construction is building it.
The anticipated opening date is next March, and 250 staff will work there.
Biggest new offices in three areas
New office developments are concentrated around the Auckland CBD with the core area and the Wynyard Quarter busiest. Greenlane ranks as the third most popular area for new offices, the study found.
The biggest of this type of new development is Mansons TCLM’s 20,898sq m twin-block campus-style offices at 30 Daldy Street.
Precinct Properties comes in second with its 20,000sq m Wynyard Quayside. That is three inter-connected multi-level buildings at 124 Halsey St and 117 Pakenham St. Around 1400 Beca staff will leave Pitt St for this new building by Hawkins.
Beca will occupy levels zero to five over approximately 15,000sq m, leaving about 5000 sq m on the upper floors for others.
The three-building design has interconnecting bridges between the two buildings at levels six and seven, providing floorplates of 1961sq m each.
Level eight is the top floor, with a 732sq m floorplate and expected to have big harbour views.
All three new buildings have been designed by Warren and Mahoney in a team led by Blair Johnstone. The architecture firm’s offices are right next to the new project, in the sawtooth building Precinct also owned at 139 Pakenham St.
Precinct chief executive Scott Pritchard told the Herald last year that completion of the three buildings would mark an end to Precinct’s Wynyard work, which started in around 2015.
Precinct won’t wholly own the new buildings once completed. These will be 75% owned by the Singapore Government’s property investment fund, which Pritchard refers to as GIC (Government of Singapore Investment Corporation) founded in 1981 and with significant other Auckland assets.
Precinct will hold the remaining 25% ownership of the new blocks.
Third-biggest new offices rising in Auckland are by PAG and on Wakefield Place. These are 14,000sq m, followed by a new commercial building on Greenlane’s Marewa Rd.
Top five overall planned, under-construction and nearing completion new Auckland buildings:
1. 34,000sq m Ikea store, 3 Te Ahoterangi Rise, Mt Wellington;
2. 29,500sq m DHL building, 11 Te Kapua Dr, airport corridor;
3. 27,273sq m Fisher & Paykel Healthcare building, 15 Maurice Paykel Pl, East Tamaki;
4. 20,100sq m Ikea warehouse, 9 Te Kapua Dr, the Landing, Māngere;
5. 20,898 offices for telco One and others, 30 Daldy St, Wynyard Quarter.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
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