The $650m ‘beacon’ that heralds a new age for Auckland’s city centre

Sunday, 22 June 2025

Work on New Zealand’s first true transit-oriented development gets under way in July, and the $650 million “vertical village” will become one of Auckland’s landmarks on completion, one of the developers says.

The 21-storey Symphony Centre is set to rise above the City Rail Link (CRL)’s Te Waihorotiu station, on the corner of Wellesley Str and Mayoral Drive. Te Waihorotiu is expected to become the country’s busiest train station with an estimated 54,000 passengers streaming through it daily.

The towering development above the station will be made up of retail and hospitality space, nine floors of commercial office space and 78 upmarket apartments, and will be New Zealand’s first mixed-use property to be integrated with a public train station.

It is part of a significant urban regeneration project focused on the mid-town art precinct area, and includes the refurbishment of the neighbouring, heritage-listed Bledisloe House, and the creation of connecting laneways.

The development got under way back in 2019 when international developers Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad (MRCB) put in a successful $40m bid for a 125-year lease of the site, and recruited local firm RCP to manage the project.

But construction can begin only when CRL completes Te Waihorotiu station and hands the site over.

A CRL spokesperson told the Sunday Star-Times that heavy construction on the network is now complete and the final fit out of the stations and the streetscape works outside the stations is on track to be finished by the end of this year.

That’s left RCP projecting construction on the Symphony Centre will start in the first quarter of next year, but getting onto early works to prepare the site in July, subject to the CRL and Auckland Council.

RCP director Cristean Monreal says the plans have developed over the years to unlock the greatest opportunity from the site, and what is now going ahead showcases how Auckland is growing up as a city.

“It’s exciting because MRCB is a multi-billion company, and they see the opportunity in this project as they did in their flagship Kuala Lumpur Sentral CBD transit-oriented development.

“Now, they are creating a similar world-class precinct that rises from a main public transport station for Auckland. It will help to unlock a smart, sustainable city with quality civic spaces.”

It has taken New Zealanders a while to get to a point where they embrace the European style of apartment living in cities, but many do now, and the centre will set a benchmark for what can be offered, he says.

The Symphony Centre’s apartments will not be tiny, cookie-cutter offerings, instead 46 different layouts are being rolled out, and they are intended to look individual.

Monreal says the apartments are all generous in size, and priced well relative to comparable products on the market.

Apartments on the lower floors are priced from $1.14m for a one bedroom, but they also come with a separate half room.

Two and three-bedroom apartment prices start from $1.94m and $2.59m respectively, while the three-bedroom penthouse is on the market from $11.49m.

Residents will have access to an outdoor terrace area with a barbecue and seating, a gym and yoga space, a private cinema, and a large dining area that can be booked for functions.

The unusual wave shape of the glass-panelled building itself is designed to reflect its environment, notably the nearby Aotea Centre, and to make the most of sunlight and the views, while not casting shadow over Aotea Square.

Architecturally, it’s a sharp contrast to Bledisloe House, a former Auckland Council building, which is to be transformed into hospitality and office space. The repurposing will be done in a way that the architects, PeddleThorp, say “celebrates the post-war, modernist identity of the building”.

But the two buildings, new and old, will be connected by the public laneway running between them, and will be the heart of a revitalised midtown.

Together, they will help the surrounding arts precinct realise its potential by providing transport and food options for people visiting the Civic, Q Theatre, Aotea Centre, the Town Hall or the Auckland Art Gallery, Monreal says.

“It will bring a different sort of life to the central city, and I think over time the building will become an iconic landmark for Auckland.

“It’s a world-class development, and if we want to see more developments like this in New Zealand we need to support and celebrate them.”

Jack Bourke is head of strategic engagement at RCP and has a particular interest in cultural placemaking. He says the development sets the standard for cultural innovation and invigoration across the city.

An example of this is the development’s acknowledgement of the Te Ao Maori narratives that sit behind the central city and their incorporation into the public realm through its architecture, he says.

Traditionally, water tributaries ran into the area that is Aotea Square, and the Waihorotiu Stream ran down what is now Queen Street into the Waitematā Harbour.

Bourke says this is referenced in the Māori names gifted to the centre and the laneway, the facade that connects the land to the sky, the sandstone terraces which reflect Auckland’s cliffs and the native vegetation palette.

“It is designed to create an arterial where art, life and nature coalesce in perfect harmony.

“As part of the revitalised arts quarter, it will be a symbol of Auckland's cultural Renaissance and amplify the city's status as a beacon for both locals and visitors.”

The commercial value the arts bring into the built environment has been ignored, he says, but the centre and the precinct surrounding it will be an economic enabler.

“It will help attract more people back to live, work and play in the CBD, so we see it as a critical part of not just building a place, but building community, connections and a thriving commercial district too.”

The estimated time to build the Symphony Centre, Bledisloe House and the surrounding laneways is three years, with completion expected to be in late 2028.

But the residential spaces have been listed for sale, and the commercial spaces for leasing, and Monreal says they are already seeing strong interest in the development.

“Our real estate agents are in conversations with a number of potential apartment buyers, and there’s commercial interest too, which is a vote of confidence and shows momentum is building.”

The CRL will also play an important role in the economic revitalisation of the mid-town area.

It will double the number of people within 30 minutes of the country’s biggest employment hub and make it faster and easier to travel by public transport to the city centre, the CRL spokesperson says.

This will be especially true for the areas around the new CRL stations, where many employers are located, as well as shops, bars, restaurants and entertainment venues, he says.

“For example a person living in Henderson and working in the Wellesley Street area of the city would take almost an hour to travel to the office by public transport today, but this will be cut to around 35 minutes on the train - direct to Te Waihorotiu Station - when CRL becomes part of the network.

“For city centre businesses, the benefit is that there are more potential customers and more potential employees, within a shorter travel time.”

There is still a significant amount of work that needs to take place before passengers can ride on the CRL network, but Aucklanders can look forward to riding the trains sometime next year, he adds.