Popular Hamilton car park could make way for riverside apartments

Sunday, 18 September 2022

For years, Hamilton’s Sonning Car Park on River Road has been openly considered for development.

A prime piece of riverside real estate that’s home to 300 car parks for city workers is in the sights of developers.

While Hamilton City Council, which owns the land, has ruled out the idea of Sonning Car Park being converted to public housing, it is most likely to turn into apartments.

The city needs more rentals and more opportunities for people to get onto the housing ladder, Hamilton mayor Paula Southgate says.

But a former deputy mayor is planning a public meeting for Claudelands residents and says the suburb's heritage character must be respected.

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The car park is “not going to turn into social housing overnight”, Hamilton Mayor Paula Southgate says.

The car park, on River Road by Claudelands Bridge, has been openly considered for development for years, but Southgate says there is a lot of water to flow under the bridge before plans for the site are finalised.

“We had a range of ideas, whether a combination of housing, hotel, and at one time people even suggested a high-rise car park.

Former deputy mayor Gordon Chesterman, pictured in 2016, is planning a public meeting over concerns about the Claudelands development (file photo).

“But in more recent times, council discussions have changed to housing and providing opportunity for diverse range of housing.”

The council had neither arrived at a decision nor signed any agreements at this stage, but local and international developers were working to find out the future of the car park.

Southgate urged Hamiltonians to not worry as it’s “not going to turn into social housing overnight”.

But former Hamilton deputy mayor Gordon Chesterman said he had various concerns, and was inviting the mayor and Claudelands residents to a community meeting on October 2.

Plans for the site aren’t finalised, but Hamilton mayor Paula Southgate said council discussions have turned to housing.

'I don't think this is an appropriate development for this area,' he said. 'We have to respect the heritage character of Claudelands.'

Chesterman, who led the creation of the council's heritage strategy, said he had confidential development information he wanted to confirm but his concerns included a lack of suitable infrastructure in the area, its location next to a heritage zone above an old pā site, that Kāinga Ora could be part-funding the project, its location next to a steep cliff above a river and that no public consultation would be required.

The public meeting will be 4 to 6pm on Sunday, October 2 at Link House on Te Aroha St.

Mayor Southgate said people would be 'understandably anxious about what the new look of their city is going to be' and the infill going on.

New Zealand Archaeological Association has recorded Sonning Car Park as an archaeological site with 310 parking spaces.

“We are working through our district plan review to try and make the best of the situation the Government has made law.”

Southgate was not impressed with the “not needing a requirement for parking or garages” as Government’s city densification plan comes in.

“A forward-thinking developer will be smart about that and consider how they make the very best development and be sympathetic for the surrounding environment, and that will include consideration of parking.

“We need housing, but we need right kind of housing in the right place, and we need it to be sympathetic to the surrounding community. It shouldn’t deliver negative outcomes to the surrounding community, it’s all about a balancing game.”

One of those nearby residents is David McGregor. He lives across from the car park and says the site is “nearly full all the time”.

“It is a very cheap car park, by standards. People park here and get into work very easily.

“I understand how narrow the housing accommodation is at the moment, but there is also a critical shortage of car parking.”

McGregor feared taking it away might push people to park on the narrow streets.

“I am a cleaner and use my van to do the job. It will become difficult for me to come and go easily if there are two lanes of traffic and cars parked on both sides of my street.”

New Zealand Archaeological Association has recorded Sonning Car Park as an archaeological site which has 310 parking spaces, but that doesn’t stop it being sold or developed.

Hamilton City Council strategic property manager Nicolas Wells said a developer would be required to engage with mana whenua and Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.

Public consultation isn’t a requirement but any developer who needed resource consent “would have to consider impacts on the area”.

Sonning Car Park is one of four key development sites the council owns and could play a role in the council’s aspiration of 4000 new dwellings in the central city and surrounding 800m walkable catchment in the next 10 years, Wells said.

“Council has been proactively seeking a development partner for this site for around a decade and has been out to the market seeking expressions of interest and concepts against a brief more than once.”

Lugtons Real Estate managing director Simon Lugton said a property like the Sonning Car Park was “very unique”.

“It is very hard to put a value on it because some developers will look at that and have a totally different concept of the final product than others.”

The only way would be to put it in a structured marketing campaign and see who’s out there, he said.