Mark Knoff - Thomas gives us some insight into the developments of Newmarket

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“Newmarket, like much of central Auckland, is experiencing a period of disruption and change.”

The only certain things in life are death and taxes, and if you live in Auckland, road cones. You cannot go anywhere without seeing armies of the things lining roads, building sites, around footpaths and new cycle lanes, and everything in between. They are a good indicator that things are happening, money is being invested, infrastructure is being improved, developments are taking place - but in my humble opinion, they are also excessively overused.

Newmarket, like much of central Auckland, is experiencing a period of disruption and change. Change can be hard to handle sometimes, we don’t generally like our habits and routines being tampered with. But often, with change, comes great advancements and progress. Newmarket is on the cusp of a rebirth – getting ready for the next version of itself.

Scentre Group’s near billion-dollar development at 277 and 309 Broadway is the biggest thing this precinct has ever seen, and, that Scentre Group has ever done. It is a game-changer. The development is massive, and as the structure spreads across the sites you begin to understand the enormity of such a project. The closure of 277 earlier this year, and the supermarket, sent a few ripples across the precinct.However, 6 months on people have worked out where they can park (in one of the 4,000 other carparks we have), consumers are staying loyal to their favourite stores, cafes, bars and restaurants, and it’s pretty much business as usual. On top of this we are seeing a significant amount of investment activity; other major works include:

• Safari Group pumping $95m into a new Ramada Hotel and apartment block on Gillies Avenue

• The Jones Family’s multimillion dollar Kitchen Things Luxury Collection on Morrow Street, which opened in July – it is everything!

• Freedom Furniture is creating its new flagship store and is undergoing a major reno on their Broadway site, plus neighbour Swedish Furniture is having a revamp

• Manson’s new $143m headquarters for Mercury near the Olympic Park roundabout is progressing well

• The new owners of the site tenanted by The Warehouse, Noel Leeming etc are completing a feasibility study to see what they will transform that site into.

And on the residential apartment front, it’s going gangbusters:

• 85 Nuffield Street (16 residences) – completion early 2019

• The Edgerley (81 residences), 14-18 Edgerley Avenue – completion late 2018

• St Marks (58 residences), St Mark’s Road – completion August 2018

• Vanguard (34 residences), 64 Great South Road – completion mid 2020

• The James (29 residences), 371 Khyber Pass Road – completed

• Lion Residences (51 residences), 2 Mountain Road – completion late 2019

So, yes, we are experiencing some disruption, but WOW the end result will be a precinct unmatched in this country, and probably Australia. Watch this space.