Since time began, cities around the world have offered the allure of seeking and making your fortune. Great world cities such as London, New York, Hong Kong and Sydney still hold that promise for many.

Auckland has never really made it near that list, but there are increasing glimmers of hope that the CBD is on its way to becoming an attractive destination. It is interesting to note the current transformation of Auckland’s CBD and the very beginnings of a Phoenix rising from the ashes of a jumbled and unattractive downtown.

In the next few years Auckland’s downtown is going to be a place to watch and potentially a place of opportunity for many businesses.

The Deloitte Centre at 80 Queen St is due to be finished next year, and the council is already at work ripping up pavement to create a new atmosphere for the downtown’s Shortland St, Jean Batten Place, Fort St, Commerce St and others.

Hard on the heels of this development will be preparations for the Rugby World Cup in 2011, and as the Prime Minister has suggested, the creation of “party central” with developments on Queens Wharf.

Add to this the redevelopment of the Britomart precinct, the already buzzing Viaduct area and the development plans for the old tank farm area of the port by Westhaven, and you have a totally transformed downtown city.

There is still a way to go, with public consultation later this year and the restructure of Auckland governance as the so called supercity to be decided, but big changes are afoot non-the-less.

So how does all this relate to property leasing?

Well as I have often said, good management of your property lease links very closely to business strategy and considering long-term futures. The large scale development of Auckland’s CBD and downtown area is creating what planners call mixed use zones or precincts, where people will “live, work and play”.

This will have big impacts for businesses seeking to employ the best talent; a downtown office, close to apartments, restaurants, cafés and entertainment is going to be very attractive to those who are after an urban lifestyle – and they are often the talented young professionals.

Wellington and Christchurch have tended to be somewhat ahead of Auckland when it comes to enlivening their CBDs but the future is likely to continue to see trends in these cities as well that will bring a more mixed and increasingly talented and lifestyle workforce to central city areas.

So watching the streets of Auckland’s downtown being repaved is an indicator of a potentially brighter future, and it just remains to be seen whether they will in fact be “paved with gold!”

Tags: commercial property lease, commercial property leasing, commercial real estate, office leasing, office space, work space

This entry was posted on Tuesday 16th June 2009 and is filed under Property Leasing. Both comments and pings are currently closed.