Five Acres for £500,000

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 828, 23 November 1929, Page 8

Five Acres for £500,000

OLD STATION SITE

T[lb Llailway Department ex old station site when it 1 1931. At this figure, it is high planning' proposal to establi square on this spot will be eai tvary, high-priced business t around it. Tlie old station site lias been the object of a great deal of speculation in the City, firstly because of its valuable position in relation to' commercial operations ou tile waterfront, and secondly, because its disposal is inseparably attached to other city planning proposals. It has long been the desire of the City Council to construct a street parallel with Queen Street, connecting Lome, High and Fort Streets, and extending from Rutland Street, opposite the Town Hall, to Quay Street, on the waterfront; but this proposal has been hampered by long negotiation with those who occupy the intervening blocks. The chief of these were the railway station site and the Shortland Street Post Office, though several Harbour Board leases also intervene between the railway station and Quay Street. Soon the railway station site will be vacated, and in the meantime negotiations are being pursued with the Harbour Board in respect of their leases, shortly to fall due. Much will then depend upon the announcement of the Postmaster-General when a settlement is arrived at between the Government and the council over the Shortland Street property. So that the possibilities of tlie road becoming au accomplished fact within a comparatively short time are reasonably bright. GOVERNMENT SQUARE While these problems have been grappled by the parties primarily concerned in their solution, the public mind has been reminded by the Town Planning Association that the old station site would make an admirable spot for a decorative square surrounded by Government Buildings, thus serving the double purpose of centralising the Government departments in Auckland and keeping beautiful oue of the most valuable pieces of land in the City. The Railway Department views the land in an entirely different light, however. Sentimental affection for aesthetic embellishment and reduced overhead in other Government departments is not the prime consideration of this department, the heads of which believe that the old station site of five acres is worth £500.000.

poets to net +1.100,000 for the s vacated at tlie beginning of ]y improbable that the townsli a Government Buildings ■ried to fruition. On the conilocks are likelv to be built j So long as a price approximating that figure is paid—or tile equivalent shown in prospect through long-term leases—the ultimate purpose for which the laud is used will not vitally disturb the railway authorities. So attractive is this site, and so handy to the centre of business activity, that nearly every public body in the City has offered tentative suggestions for its future use. Those who picture rapid development of the eastern suburbs and the extension of transport lines in that direction believe it would make au admirable bus terminus. The Town Planning Association goes further and visions a bus terminus as a part of the Government Square proposal. A business viewpoint is expressed in favour of a tremendous ground-floor parking area for motor-cars, with shops above supported upon stout concrete pillars. POSTAL EXPANSION At least part of this block has been considered —though without definite decision so far —by the Post and Telegraph Department as an admirable site for building extensions. The existing office is intensely congested, and even though the transfer of the Railway Department to its new station buildings in Beach Road will relieve one full floor of the post office, this will hardly be sufficient for the rapid progress of Auckland's postal business. The parcels office ill Albert Street also might be brought into the Chief Post Office, thus enabling the whole business of this department to bo centralised at Queen Street. It is anticipated that the new railway station will be ready for occupation early in 1931. When the building is finished and tlie venue of the trains is changed, * the first step toward utilising the old site will probably be the construction of a dividing road down the middle, and of the necessary access roads from either side. This subdivision would leave a cramped, but valuable, site for the erection of business blocks. With land at £IOO,OOO an acre, this would appear to he the only means of securing a reasonable return. —L.J.C.