Road to the Cup: Auckland's multi-billion dollar downtown waterfront makeover

Wednesday, 7 November 2018

How Auckland's waterfront will change by the 2021 America's Cup.

In 2021, the City of Sails will host its first America's Cup in nearly two decades. Todd Niall and Nick Truebridge map the road to the regatta and ask why New Zealanders should care about the Cup.

More than two billion dollars worth of construction will transform Auckland's waterfront and lower downtown over the next two years, in the run-up to the America's Cup regatta.

A new public space will be built out on piles by Quay Street to replace the former QE2 Square

It's the country's biggest concentrated urban transformation, as Auckland scrubs up for not just the sailing contest, but also the APEC world leaders meeting, and Women's Cricket World Cup in 2021.

The convergence of events is being used as a catalyst to accelerate public area improvements that were planned longer term, but now have a December 2020 deadline.

* Government wants America's Cup land to remain for future events

* America's Cup standoff puts Auckland event 'at risk

* Govt indecision over America's Cup won't halt Council plans**

Lower Queen Street in front of Britomart Station will be pedestrian only when it re-opens in late 2020

The America's Cup regattas build-up to the final in March 2021, while the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation forum will attract up to 20,000 delegates and media, half of them during the leaders' week in November.

Auckland Council has just unveiled images of a series of harbour-edge projects that it will accelerate before the the city's biggest year in a decade, on the world stage.

The pendulum will swing away from vehicles dominating some key streets on the waterfront, to creating more space for people to wander or relax.

Councillor Chris Darby chairs the Planning Committee which oversees the Downtown revamp

Features of the $313.7 million project include a new public space to be built out between Queens and Princes Wharves, with two existing ferry piers being replaced by six new ones on Queens Wharf.

The downtown section of Quay Street will be transformed at a cost of $59m, reducing to two lanes at its narrowest, with an expected 30 per cent cut in through traffic.

Two new bus terminals ($44m) will be built on Lower Albert Street, and on Quay Street beside Britomart.

Lower Queen Street in front of Britomart, the former Chief Post Office, will be for pedestrians only.

'I am strongly of the view Aucklanders don't know yet how good the city centre is going to be,' said Scott Pritchard, the chief executive of Precinct Properties.

Precinct's Commercial Bay development opposite the Ferry Building is worth $1 billion, with a 39-storey office tower and shops, and connects to much of the council's work.

Precinct's is the most spectacular single component, and sits atop the $320m section of the City Rail Link twin tunnels, being built between Britomart Station and Wyndham Street.

Pedestrian areas will widen on Quay Street, with traffic narrowing to just two lanes

'I can't recall or find anywhere in history books, when Auckland has had a time where so many things are aligned,' Pritchard told Stuff.

The Commercial Bay block will accommodate 10,000 office workers, retail staff and public in a single city block.

The huge tunnel excavations under it will be complete pre-Cup, and street-level upgrades of lower Queen and Albert Streets will feature more pedestrian space.

Other elements due to be done within two years, are revamped public space in the Eastern Viaduct area, and new bus terminals in Lower Albert Street and Quay Street by Britomart.

Further east, the clearing of some Wynyard Wharf sites for America's Cup teams has begun, and an estimated $212m worth of work will include extending Hobson Wharf.

The council and government joint venture for that work, the Wynyard Edge Alliance, will next month sign contracts with builders, and preparations could start late this month.

WEA will build the 'platforms' for the bases on Wynyard and Hobson Wharves, with the first due to be completed later next year.

The chair of the council's Planning Committee, Chris Darby, believes the transformation will further change how Aucklanders think about the downtown.

Quay Street will narrow to two lanes past the Ferry Building creating more space for people

'I think in 2011 people started to discover the downtown on the back of the Rugby World Cup, and on the back of the America's Cup even more will,' he said.

'This development programme that is going to unfold here, is going to be a major enticement for even more Aucklanders to come and experience it.'

PROJECTS COMPLETING IN THE NEXT TWO YEARS :

*** Precinct Properties' Commercial Bay tower and retail $1 billion

* Auckland Council's 'Downtown Programme of works $ 313 million

* Park Hyatt Hotel, Halsey Street $ 300 million

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff says he has 'sweated blood' over public spending in the lead up to the America's Cup, but believes hosting the event is worth it.

* America's Cup base platforms/Hobson Wharf extn $ 212 million

* City Rail Link Britomart and Albert St sections $ 320 million**

Darby acknowledged the pressure to make sure the council's investment was spread beyond the downtown area.

'We can't be entirely city-centric and we are not being entirely city centric in our focus.'

Darby pointed to urban regeneration work underway in the larger suburbs of Northcote, Takapuna, Henderson, Manukau and elsewhere.

'The Downtown Programme has a big reach but there's nothing like making sure there's a reinvention of the main streets and the centres that people live closer to.'

Construction will be in full swing by April 2019, with the six new ferry berths on Queens Wharf expected to be one of the first elements to be completed by the end of 2019.

The biggest construction upheaval at present, is around the twin rail tunnels being built under the Britomart station, Commercial Bay, and up Albert Street.

That is basically a giant trench which will be closed during the next two years allowing the street-level upgrades to be finished.

Less apparent but weighing in at $86m is the renewal of the seawall along the harbour edge of Quay Street.

The pre-Cup programme will be a challenge to deliver on time, as Precinct Properties found, with its project slipping 5-6 months.

Six new ferry berths on the western side of Queens Wharf should be ready by the end of 2019

'Building in the biggest construction boom New Zealand has ever seen - that's been our biggest challenge,' Scott Pritchard told Stuff.

Darby acknowledged the challenge, but the project team believed having a single contractor, Downer, co-ordinating all the work would keep it on course.

The North Shore councillor was less excited about the sporting side of the America's Cup than in the impetus which hosting the event had put into the transformation.

Auckland Council expects most of the waterfront projects to complete during 2020

'The downtown is not just about providing something for downtown workers or downtown residents - a quarter to a fifth of Aucklanders interact with downtown or the water's edge almost on a weekly basis.

'This development programme that is going to unfold here, is going to be a major enticement for even more Aucklanders to come and experience it.'

WHY CARE ABOUT THE CUP?

When it comes to America's Cup 2021 cheerleaders you'd be hard pressed to find many more passionate than Super City Mayor Phil Goff.

Stuff asked the mayor why Auckland, a city facing critical housing and transport problems, should care about the Cup.

Crowds cheer Team New Zealand in 2003 as they leave the Auckland viaduct.

'I've been down there for the Volvo Round the World Race, I've been through a number of Cups in Auckland,' he recalled.

'I've seen the excitement and the enjoyment that the people in our city and the people in our country have got for it.'

Goff also points to analysis done by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment looking at the economic benefits of hosting the race for the Auld Mug.

'I think the Government in 2000 and 2003 estimated that it was probably worth half a billion dollars in economic benefit to New Zealand – I see Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has estimated $0.6 billion to $1b [for 2021],' he said.

Auckland last hosted an America's Cup in 2003. That regatta was disastrous for Team New Zealand.

'We're talking about five to eight thousand jobs that are possible. I've talked to the boating industry, the boat building industry and we're making provision to expand that down at Wynyard Point as a permanent feature of it.

'I look at what we did for the Viaduct Basin when we originally held the Cup, I look at some of the long term infrastructure benefits that the changes will bring, more than half funded by the Government.'

But Dr Sam Richardson, a Senior Lecturer at Massey University's School of Economics and Finance, told Stuff generally speaking the benefits of holding major events tend to be more optimistic than they eventually turn out to be.

'What you usually find is after the event costs are much higher than what were predicted,' Richardson said.

Ahead of the Cricket and FIFA U20 World Cups in 2015, Richardson reported on several reasons why New Zealand should not expect 'economic windfalls' from sports events.

'Event-related tourism is often affected by 'crowding-out', where other international visitors postpone or decide not to travel to avoid a major event,' he wrote.

'This can deflate the actual impact experienced during the event as 'regular' tourists, who might otherwise travel to New Zealand at that time, decrease in numbers.

'These effects are influenced by the timing of the event in the tourism calendar. The 2011 Rugby World Cup significantly exceeded pre-event expectations of visitor arrivals, partially because it occurred in the off-peak tourism period.'

Even still, taxpayers had to pick up two-thirds of the $31.3m operational loss made by RWC 2011.

'Infrastructure and expertise was developed for the 2011 tournament that played a part in enabling this country to bid for (and win) hosting rights to the events of 2015 – but serious doubts are starting to be cast on whether hosting mega sporting events is feasible for small countries such as New Zealand,' Richardson said.

The team issue is also hard to ignore.

Challengers from around the world have until November 30 to enter for the 36th America's Cup.

Currently four teams, defenders Team New Zealand, Luna Rossa (Italy), American Magic (USA) and Ineos Team UK are in.

Fewer teams means fewer international and more local visitors, which meant less of a cash injection when locals spend their money at the regatta instead of where they normally would, Richardson said.

Goff conceded he had 'sweated blood' over the amount of cash the public would fork out to host the Cup.

Then he switched from interviewee to interviewer: 'What would you be saying to me right now … if I'd said 'oh no it's going to cost some money, we're not going to do it'?' he asked.

'I think it's going to add excitement and vibrancy and help us develop that reputation for being a world class city,' he said.

'All of those benefits have to be weighed up against the cost that we've put into it and the people that get the benefit of those jobs will come from all over the city – the tradies working on the boats, the people that are in the accommodation industry and the tourist industry and the cafes and the taxi drivers.

'All of those people will benefit and we will get jobs, and if we win the Cup again we get all of those benefits three years out again for almost no cost.'

And for the Auckland Mayor hosting is about more than economic gain – some wins cannot be quantified.

'I was down at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron for the last race … and the front three rows were kids between the ages I guess of about 7 and 12,' he said.

'And I just watched them looking up at this big screen and the inspiration they were getting and the utter joy of watching New Zealand, with its 4.6 million people and limited resources, beating the most powerful economic country in the world that's sponsored by a multinational that's worth billions of dollars.

'I think that's great for New Zealanders, I think that's great for our young sports people and it does put us on the map.'