Plans notified for quarter-kilometre downtown Auckland tower, lower Hobson St flyover to be demolished

But the application says it is not Precinct’s call about the Lower Hobson St flyover’s demolition to allow it to beautify the area.

“All parties remain committed to the removal of the Lower Hobson St flyover and this outcome continues to be the primary basis for design development. However, the removal of the flyover is to be led by Auckland Transport and its removal will be the subject of a separate approval process. As such, our application for Resource Consent places the proposal within the existing street environment inclusive of the flyover,” says the application’s assessment of environmental effects by Barker & Associates.

The application indicated the flyover is ugly and a blot on the landscape.

“The current receiving environment includes the Lower Hobson St flyover/ ramp which results in a significant visual barrier for the site and its surrounds. As part of the pre-application meeting discussions, Auckland Transport confirmed that it is seeking to remove this flyover in the future, however the timeframe for when this might occur has not been confirmed.

“As such, the following assessments of effects are assessed on the basis that the flyover is retained. For clarity, we do not anticipate other major changes to the receiving environment that should be considered as part of this application,” Barker’s application said.

There was no timeframe on when AT might demolish it.

The new twin tower scheme beside Commercial Bay is named Pūmanawa [heart beat] today’s documents reveal.

The application is to develop 2 Lower Hobson St, 73-83 Customs St West, 29 Customs St West, 188 Quay St and 204 Quay St.

Any member of the public can now have their say about the non-complying scheme.

A summary on the council’s site for the scheme says: “Demolish the Downtown Carpark building and associated structures including modification to a heritage building and to comprehensively redevelop the site into a mixed-use precinct. Office, residential, retail, food and beverage and publicly accessible open space activities are proposed, contained within three podium buildings (two to three storeys and seven storeys in height) and two towers (162m and 227m in height). Associated earthworks, discharge consent for contamination, water permits for groundwater with the demolition and construction duration being seven years.”

The proposed development includes the demolition of the existing Downtown Carpark building and the Lower Hobson St pedestrian bridge and Customs St West vehicle ramp.

These are all within part of the road reserve.

Redevelopment of the site is for a mixed-use precinct with commercial, residential, retail, food and beverage and civic uses, the plans say.

“The removal of the Lower Hobson St flyover would help fully realise the positive effects of the proposal on streetscape amenity, activation, and pedestrian circulation. However, even if the flyover is retained which is the basis on which this assessment has been carried out, the proposal will present a significant improvement to the streetscape environment and would have positive effects compared to the current situation,” the application said.

The scheme is for:

Overall, the development will be 120,000sq m in gross floor area with 82,100sq m office space, 32,800sq m of apartments, 2200sq m of retail and food and beverage and 3300sq m in civic space for the public.

Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.