Wynyard Quarter residents decry ‘indefensible’ 23-storey waterfront unit plans
Residents in Wynyard Quarter are expressing concern over a proposed fast-track application for a 23-level, 80m tall apartment and carparking building on Auckland’s waterfront.
Richard Greissman and others in a Madden St block opposite the site fear loss of views and shading.
“A building as high as 80 metres at the water’s edge is indefensible,” he said, adding that plans in 2012 were for a Wynyard Quarter with human-scale architecture.
“Is that 24 metres, 36 metres or 50 metres? A reasonable person would say 50 metres in a precinct like this, as opposed to Britomart, is pushing the boundaries,” Greissman, the former chairman of the Wynyard Quarter Residents Association, now dissolved, said.
Another resident of the Madden St block, developed by Willis Bond, said: “There is general horror and concern in the community.”
The 90-unit block where the residents live is only 12 levels high and sits between Beaumont St and Madden St.
The existing apartment block is across the road from 188 Beaumont St, where the 23-level tower is planned.
The project, yet to win approval, is proposed by NZX-listed Precinct Properties and Orams Marine.
Westhaven Residential Limited Partnership has applied for fast-tracking.
The application for 188 Beaumont St seeks consent for “a marker building containing approximately 215 residential apartments with in-built flexibility for use as serviced apartments, ground-floor retail activities and associated car parking”.
Three buildings proposed include:
All up, 42,098sq m is planned for 45 three-bedroom units, 126 two-bedroom units, 44 one-bedrooms and carparking in the podium levels.
The application was lodged on September 4.
On December 19, Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop referred the project for fast-tracking.
The developers seek:
Height is emphasised as a plus in the application.
“Sited at the interface between the city grid and the Te Ara Tukutuku axis, the proposal acts as an orienting device and a marker in the cityscape,” the design proposal says.
The 23-level tower sought to deliver a new type of identity reflective of its Wynyard Quarter location, plans said. The plans are by Warren & Mahoney.
Having three buildings enabled stratification of offerings, because each of the blocks was envisaged to have a differentiated identity.
Precinct CEO Scott Pritchard was reluctant to discuss plans when he met the Herald at a Mt Eden site the company plans to develop.
Consent has been gained for that scheme, a much lower-rise five-level project.
Orams planned a much smaller scheme a few years ago.
This is not the first time Wynyard Quarter residents have battled Orams over height and bulk, over what is now the three-shed service sheds on the waterfront.
In 2022, then Wynyard Quarter Residents Association Inc president Marc Potter said his group had filed the legal action against Auckland Council and Orams Group, seeking a judicial review over consent for the sheds in the $140 million scheme.
But it lost, and the sheds were built.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald‘s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.