Auckland’s Downtown car park officially sold - now what?

Sunday, 14 December 2025

The flyover vehicle bridge connecting Quay Street motorists with Hobson Street is set to be demolished.

At exactly midnight this Thursday, December 18, Auckland Council will hand over the keys to its Downtown carpark to developer Precinct Properties, settling a $122 million sale.

It’s the first step in what is said to be a $1.5 billion redevelopment of the block on the corner of Lower Hobson and Customs Street West.

The development will include shops, hospitality offerings, offices and “hundreds” of apartments according to the council agency that spearheaded the sale, with artist’s impressions showing two new towers on the supercity’s skyline.

But where does it leave Auckland’s motorists?

Not only will it see the 1944-parking space building demolished, as part of long-term plans for the project, the Lower Hobson Street flyover bridge is also set to go.

That plan has been met with criticism from Mayor Wayne Brown who has instructed council chief executive Phil Wilson to stop Auckland Transport (AT) “dead in its tracks”.

Meanwhile, Precinct Properties will take over management of the Downtown carpark from Auckland Transport this week.

The initial design for the new development includes a central podium with two towers above, along with a public laneway to Commerical Bay.

A spokesperson for Precinct told The Post it intends to shut the car park to public use in late 2026. Until then, it will continue to operate “as normal”.

“Precinct will update the market regarding redevelopment plans as further milestones are reached,” they said.

As for the flyover, Simon Oddie of the Auckland Urban Development Office (formerly Eke Panuku, now AUDO) told The Post it was expected to be demolished “by 2030”.

Auckland Transport, AUDO and Precinct had an “integration agreement” in which it was promised AT would appoint a “multi-disciplinary consultant team” to oversee the process.

At the first council meeting of the new term, Mayor Brown called that “alarming”.

“I’m going to ask the CEO [Phil Wilson] to make sure this is stopped dead in its tracks, because this is not what we have in mind,” he told councillors.

A draft map of the new layout of Sturdee, Fanshawe and Hobson Streets, with annotation from The Post in red showing a potential u-turn.

“We have yet to see a rational plan for how vehicles negotiate the area without the flyover,” said Brown.

He said initial plans appeared to show motorists would have to perform a U-turn to get to Hobson Street.

Without a flyover, motorists may have to make hard turn from Sturdee Street to Fanshawe Street in order to connect with Hobson under a new layout shown on a draft map.

The Post approached AT for a response, and instead received a statement from AUDO’s Oddie: “Options will be informed by robust modelling and will factor in the substantially reduced traffic volumes experienced on these roads and intersections in recent years.”

AUDO has defended the sale saying the 55-year-old carpark building was “earthquake-prone” and would have needed up to $30m to “remediate”.

Oddie said there was also a need to ensure the Fanshawe Street bus corridor - which carries about nine million passengers a year - runs efficiently and reliably.

He said detailed options for traffic movement after the flyover is removed were still being worked on by AT and the council, with public consultation to start next year.

Said Brown: “That’s the very reason why we’re taking over all those things from AT that don’t involve a bus and public transport.”

He said he had sent AT a letter of expectation last year instructing it to improve east-west traffic flow in the city, including on Customs Street.

“And AT have gone out of their way to make it impossible to go through the city. It’s the exact opposite,” said Brown.

From March next year AT’s road controlling authority powers will sit with Auckland Council. A new Auckland Regional Transport Committee (ARTC) with appointees from council and government will set 30-year plans.

Brown said he had been meeting with key AT staff ahead of the transition and described the discussions as “very depressing”.

“Every single thing they do that doesn’t involve a bus, they do wrong, and I’m going to change that.”

Correction: a previous version of the story said the Auckland Regional Transport Committee would be the road controlling authority for Auckland. It is in fact the council that will be in charge of roads and maintenance, while the committee will set 30-year investment plans.