Aussie firm hosts 'roof shout' for $250m skyscraper in Auckland CBD

Friday, 8 December 2023

Developer Ninety-Four Feet hosted a capping ceremony for the soon-to-be completed Indigo hotel and 'sky residences' at 51 Albert Street in Auckland.

Construction staff were told to firmly hold onto their hard hats at a windblown “topping off” ceremony above the 42nd floor of a new $250 million skyscraper on Thursday.

Stuff understands that a traditional “roof shout” celebration followed, safely at ground level.

The latest addition to the Auckland CBD skyline at 51 Albert Street will house a 225-room hotel, named Indigo, as well as 30 luxury apartments on the top 13 floors.

Mark Harris of Sotheby’s Realty said that 85% of the apartments had already been sold off the plan, but the 335 square metre penthouse was still looking for an owner.

It will have three bedrooms, three bathrooms and a powder room, as well as 3.5-metre floor to ceiling windows.

Render of Indigo hotel and sky residences at 51 Albert Street.

It comes with four carpark spaces, which is an increasingly rare bonus in the CBD these days, Harris said.

The carpark is up the road, so the hotel’s concierge will bring residents’ cars to the front door, and deliver them back upon return. Likewise, room service from the hotel is only a call away.

Harris expects that the buyer will be a business person, possibly an overseas-based Kiwi, or a Singaporean or Australian, with business interests in New Zealand.

The internal fit out of the Indigo hotel and sky residences are expected to be complete “some time” in 2024.

“We have examples of buyers who use a city apartment as a central base before going to North Auckland or Coromandel.”

Harris himself bought into the building with his Queenstown-based business partner to use for business trips to the big city.

The building was developed by Australian firm Ninety Four Feet and built by Icon. It’s been seven years in the making, having come out of a programme by NZ Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) designed to attract foreign investment.

A group of staff and VIPs were taken onto the roof of the penthouse atop the 41st floor for the capping ceremony.

In 2016, NZTE’s “Project Palace” programme identified that New Zealand would need 26 more high-end hotels to make the most out of high-spending international tourists.

Around five hotels have so far come out of it, including the Park Hyatt on Auckland’s waterfront, NZTE invstment general manager Dylan Lawrence said.

Project manager Mark Nathan, Dan Bosher of construction firm Icon and Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson officiated a roof top event above the 42nd floor.

Lawrence said the model of combining residential had become common among hotels, providing them a steady income even during low seasons, which helped with servicing debt.

The cash for 51 Albert was put up by Merricks Capital, which is backed by the Liberman family, reportedly the second-wealthiest family in Australia.

Ninety Four Feet’s project manager Mark Nathan, of Neoscape, said at the rooftop ceremony that NZTE and council-controlled organisation Tātaki Unlimited had opened doors for the firm.

Tātaki helped manage the relationship with stakeholders, including St Patrick’s church next door, which had previously objected to development.

“We signed the contract in February 2020, and you know what happened next. We had to shut the whole project down for a year,” Nathan said, referring to the pandemic.

Over the three-year build, Icon has had more than 200 subcontractors on site, racking up 440,000 crew hours. It features 41 piles that go 23 metres deep into the ground. The heritage listed facade of the Macdonald Halligan Motors Company has been retained at the base.

The internal fit-out of the building is expected to be completed in “some time” in 2024.