Simplicity’s Ellerslie Racecourse build a ‘landmark’ for Auckland

Sunday, 20 April 2025

An artist’s impression of Simplicity Living's Waiatarua development in Auckland’s Remuera on completion.

A Simplicity Living development in Remuera will be the country’s biggest build-to-rent complex when completed, and the man driving it believes it will become an Auckland landmark.

The home building company, which is owned by non-profit KiwiSaver provider Simplicity, is building a 330 apartment complex on 1.4 hectares of Ellerslie Racecourse land purchased from Auckland Thoroughbred Racing in 2023.

Waiatarua is a $280 million project that will employ over 600 people on and off-site at the peak of the build. Construction began late last year and it is scheduled to be completed by February 2027.

Simplicity Living managing director Shane Brealey says the huge complex is part of the company’s wider programme to build 10,000 affordable, long-term rentals over the next 10 years.

The programme, which is financed by funds within Simplicity’s KiwiSaver Scheme and its Investment Fund, also gives KiwiSaver investors the chance to invest in New Zealand infrastructure, he said.

The Waiatarua build is underway on a site on former Ellerslie Racecourse land.

“Our unique combination of vertically integrated planning, construction, finance, ownership and management allows us to build better, faster and at lower cost.

“And being funded via long-term investment means we can build through the economic cycle, employing quality tradespeople over the long term.”

He estimates the company’s construction costs are 30% to 35% less than the market norm, and says external surveyors have verified their costs are well under the market.

“It’s our secret sauce, and allows us to continue with our build-to-rent projects in an environment where it is tough to make it work.”

“That enables two things. We can provide higher returns to our Kiwisaver investors who are contributing to our efforts to deliver these homes, and we can offer more affordable rents to our residents.”

Build-to-rent developments are large scale, multi-unit residential buildings which offer long-term rental agreements, are professionally managed, and do not offer apartments for sale to individual owners.

The build-to-rent sector had been slow to take off in New Zealand, but 1841 units have now been built, and there are 735 units under construction with 2961 in the pipeline, according to the Property Council.

Simplicity Living’s Shane Brealey says their construction costs are 30% to 35% less than the market norm.

Last year Kiwi Property completed New Zealand’s biggest build-to-rent development - Resido, a 295 apartment complex at Sylvia Park in Auckland. But when Waiatarua is finished it will take over Resido’s mantle.

Brealey says the build is progressing well, with the four blocks that will make up the complex now coming out of the ground.

The first of two tower cranes is being put up later this week, and the site’s visibility means there is a lot of interest in the work, he says.

“We are still working through some of the design features, but there will be a lot of reference to whenua, and the surrounding land and volcanic area. And it will feature rauru artwork over the southern elevations of each of the buildings. They will be 11 storeys high, and could be the largest Māori artworks in the world.”

The rauru will be very prominent and lit up at night, he says.

“My hope is they will replace the landmark Tip Top corner on the Southern motorway that some of us used to look out for as children in the back seat of the Holden Kingswood.”

An artist’s impression of the planned rauru artwork on the Waiatarua complex.

Alongside the 330 homes, Waiatarua will have a rooftop resident work-from-home space and a ground level resident pavilion lounge and cafe.

It will be built to a Homestar 7 standard, with a 150-year design life, and it will have solar panels, rainwater harvesting and a focus on minimising construction waste.

There will be more than 7000 native trees and plants in landscaped grounds around the complex, and extensive car and bike parks with electric charging units.

Its location is less than 10 minutes walk from the Greenlane train station, a supermarket, shops and offices, and the medical hub around the Mercy Ascot hospital.

Brealey says over 800 people will eventually call Waiatarua their home, and Simplicity wants them to enjoy living there and to stay long-term.

“We want low churn and high occupancy, and we’ll try to keep rents at a reasonable level. We’re not here to milk residents. We want to create an attractive and stable community.”

Besides its Ellerslie build, Simplicity Living has many more build-to-rent homes to come.

The company’s 297-home Te Reiputa development in Mount Wellington is due to be completed in the middle of this year, and construction of a 262-home development in Morningside starts in July.

A 93-home development in Northcote will get underway before Christmas, and the company is in negotiations on a number of additional sites for a further 1140 homes.

Those sites include a location under option in Queenstown for the company’s first build-to-rent development outside of Auckland, Brealey confirms.

Simplicity Living has already completed three developments in Pt England, Onehunga and Mt Albert, with a combined 210 homes fully rented.