It is my great pleasure to announce that our entire development of 246 apartments (Stages 1 & 2) has officially sold out.

Since launching in 2015 our development has been seen as one of the city’s largest brownfield developments and has been dubbed Auckland’s fastest selling project of its size.

The success of the development was confirmed in a recent Colliers International residential project survey which assessed 27 ‘off the plan’ projects across Auckland (competitors and Colliers projects) for the first six months of last year.

The Colliers survey revealed that during that period Alexandra Park was number one across several categories including ‘total sales volume’ and ‘total sales value’ beating all other individual CBD, city and fringe projects. At the same time, Alexandra Park took out the top spot for ‘market share’ and ‘total sales by location’ when compared to all other fringe projects.

Will Coates, Projects Manager in Residential Projects Marketing at Colliers International publicly declared that Alexandra Park has well and truly broken a historic mould.

“Auckland has historically seen large apartment developments in the CBD. After all, 64% of Auckland’s total apartment stock is located in the CBD – so to see a city fringe project of Alexandra Park’s size do so well is extremely rare,” he says.

“Alexandra Park is not only selling high quality apartments, but it’s offering an entire master-planned community, including a retail High Street, as well as all the existing amenities the Auckland Trotting Club brings to the location. No other development in Auckland has ever offered this kind of mix before, and this I believe is where a large part of their success lies."

– Will Coates, Colliers International.

PROJECT UPDATE

As you all know last year the wind, rain and ground conditions were all against us.

As a result we have suffered delays in both projects. However, we’ve worked hard to keep you informed along the way and the project remains an outstanding success.

As was noted at October’s AGM of the Auckland Trotting Club, the financial objectives and milestones associated with 223 Green Lane West have all been met or surpassed.

Unlike some other developments that have been in the news, Auckland Trotting Club Inc has been around since 1890 and, as you well know, is not going anywhere. Such certainty has been a huge asset for our project.

Although we are disappointed by the construction delays they are not unusual for developments in Auckland particularly those of this size and scale. Rest assured, we are now determined to make up time. 
 

East Gate is now really starting to really take shape and is now completely out of the ground. While for Sightline Green and High Street the slabs have started to be poured and you should start to see steel coming out of the ground over the coming months.  With over 100 people now working on both sites it’s getting exciting.

East Gate | Building A

Long-time New Zealand-owned construction company, Canam, is building East Gate, with Loukas Petrou the Managing Director of Canam.
 

Loukas reports: “The piling foundations have been completed and the construction of the two underground basements for car parking and other amenities is about 100% completed. The stair cores are steadily rising up and the structural steel framework is closely following behind. Backfilling operations behind the retaining walls have commenced and the off-site manufacturing of precast panels is well underway. It is expected that the project will start moving faster once the ground floor level is completed as we will be in a repetitive structural cycle by then."

Building A Drone Shots, 2017

Sightline Green and High Street |  Buildings B1 & B2

Respected Australasian construction company Ganellen is responsible for Sightline Green and High Street. Michael Doig is Ganellen’s New Zealand Director:

Michael reports: “The year has started well on Buildings B1 and B2. We have completed our basement slab pour to B1 and are currently installing our first basement precast panels to the perimeter walls. As our structure continues one can really get a sense of the scale of this exciting project. Our structural steel commences on site from mid-February and will quickly reach level one as we erect columns from the basement to level one in a single span.”

Building B Drone Shots, 2017

WHO BOUGHT THE 246 APARTMENTS? 

Colliers International’s market analysis last year of apartment buyers at Alexandra Park revealed increasing numbers of local Auckland families and younger people were signing up.

Statistics showed that over 40% of buyers into the B buildings are younger than 45 years old. Overall we’ve got plenty of professional couples, mixed in with young and mature families, baby-boomers and empty nesters. Also pleasing is that the overall owner-occupier numbers remain high – far outnumbering those describing themselves as investors.

We’ve also attracted a lot of locals, with the buyer statistics showing many of you already live within five kilometres of Alexandra Park.

We’re delighted that our quality development and first-class location has attracted a quality bunch of residents that will soon call Alexandra Park home. We’re not only going to create a whole new heart for Epsom, but a whole new community which will hopefully get involved in racing! One thing’s for sure this new Auckland neighbourhood will be the envy of many.

STAGE THREE?

Some of you tell me you’ve got friends or family who are interested in also becoming Alexandra Park residents, but are now worried they may have missed out. They are not alone as the public interest in us launching another stage has been considerable.

I can report that we have commenced with the investigative work for Stage 3 after receiving member’s approval at the October AGM.  This work is now ongoing and subject to the economics matching what we promised members, we hope to make an announcement on the launch of this stage later this year.

It is interesting to note that we have over 1,000 people ready and waiting to hear more about our next apartments on our database and another 100 waiting for our premium product to become available.

RACING

President Bruce Carter and the board of the ATC have announced that in 2018 we will be increasing stakes by $40K per race meeting and the reaction from owners and the industry has been really positive.

Meanwhile, for those of you who haven’t heard, Kevin Smith, Racing Manager has joined HRNZ as an independent Handicapper with a focus on the North Island and bottom of the South Island. 

Taking his place is his Assistant Racing Manager, Regan Cotter who has hit the ground as our new Racing Manager. We look forward to continuing to deliver a high-quality racing programme and your board and management remained focused on turning the industry around in the North.

Franklin is currently fully occupied and Karen Blanchard and her team are doing an outstanding job of running this for us.  Her team is now handling 235 horses in work who choose to train on our tracks in Pukekohe.

THE BUSINESS

Over this year you will see that Joel Reichardt, Sales and Marketing Manager, Chris Paul, Food and Beverage Manager, Richard Harris, Executive Chef and their teams have introduced a series of new themed race night events and some special events to attract new audiences.  Our first event – Chinese New Year was a sell out and our Fashion at the Oaks is nearly sold out… so if you are wishing to attend you better book quickly!

The Alex has been doing really well under Stephanie Campbell and her team and they too have been increasing their business with new events and activities such as Quiz Night, Blues Bar, and various clubs and group meetings.

Gaye Wilson has been busy getting new uniforms for our staff which is now being rolled out across the venue.

Property has been extremely busy with various repairs and obviously a particular concentration has been given to the grounds and the track.

THE FUTURE

Auckland Trotting Club Inc is on track to be one of the leading clubs across the codes in New Zealand. As stated earlier in this newsletter we will meet or exceed every target promised to members for the development. At the same time, many other aspects of our business are performing strongly.

We remain totally committed to delivering on our comprehensive business strategy that the board and members worked so hard on – not only to secure the club’s future but to help lift the prospects of our industry.

Your board and management continue to challenge, create, develop and implement a wide range of initiatives that add value across our portfolio. Our ultimate objective is to create profits that are then invested in the sustainability of harness racing and our business.

Thank you all most sincerely for your continued support. In turn the Auckland Trotting Club will work hard to ensure Alexandra Park remains the premier racing venue in Australasia.

Dominique Dowding
Chief Executive