New Zealand: Tallest skyscraper plan for Auckland
By Anne Gibson
The New Zealand Herald
New Zealand’s tallest new skyscraper is planned to be an entertainment hub, sporting cinemas and other amenities to pull the crowds.
A $350 million 209m (685.69ft) skyscraper has been announced for a CBD site left vacant since the 1980s when Chase Corporation demolished the Royal International Hotel.
A statement from mayor Len Brown’s office out today revealed further details of the giant 52-level monster which is also to contain a top-class hotel, previously speculated to be a Ritz Carlton.
Multimillionaire Shanghai businessman Furu Ding bought the long-vacant site in the CBD for a five-star hotel tower.
Ding’s New Development Group is to build the tower, known now as NDG Auckland Centre, on the site of a carpark and bungy jump bounded by Elliot St, Albert St and Victoria St.
Despite New Zealand’s growing appetite for online shopping, a large number of new shops are planned and the block will have an eight-level podium with a highly interactive edge.
Aucklanders frustrated about the lack of inner-city carparking could also get relief because the statement said six levels of below-ground car parking were planned.
The statement also alluded to how the public would be encouraged to go into and through the huge new structure and use many different parts of it.
“The new project will incorporate a range of activities including a 302-room hotel and entertainment complex, residential apartments, shopping, restaurants, a cinema and two sky deck areas within the tower structure,” the statement out today said.
“The design will also enhance the urban space and connectivity with a footpath link, internal pedestrian circulation and arcade areas, a plaza to Albert St and a podium garden area.”
Auckland Council has granted resource consent for the giant which will only be dwarfed by the 328m (1,076 ft) Sky Tower. A building consent is still pending.
Mayor Len Brown announced details of the tower to the Herald this morning, saying it would be a huge transformation for the city.
“Alongside the Sky Tower, this will be a world class development for Auckland that will create hundreds of new jobs, energise the CBD and boost Auckland’s GDP, through a more than $350 million investment by NDG,” Brown said.
“It’s also an example of the major commercial opportunities created by the City Rail Link project. To date the private sector has confirmed more than a billion dollars of new investments along the proposed route, including Precinct Properties’ downtown retail and office development ($300m+) the NZ International Convention Centre ($400m+) and Elliott Towers ($350m+),” he said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11200722
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Video: Auckland, New Zealand
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Video: Auckland
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Auckland
Dilemma X 
February 12, 2014
International