- The $450m Symphony Centre in Auckland will feature a 21-storey mixed-use development above Te Waihorotiu station.
- The development includes street-level shops, offices, and 78 apartments, with a penthouse priced at $11.6m.
- The project aims to revitalise the precinct, offering amenities like a gym, movie theatre and outdoor terrace.
Would you pay $11.6 million to live above a train station? You might if you saw the penthouse on offer in the $450m Symphony Centre, currently under construction in Auckland’s CBD.
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The 21-storey "vertical village" is set above the new City Rail Link station on the corner of Wellesley Street and Mayoral Drive.
Te Waihorotiu is tipped to become the city’s busiest station when it opens early next year (forecasts are for 32,000 people through the station per hour). It will also be the first transport hub in the country linked to a mixed-use development.
The Symphony Residences penthouse is asking $11.6m, but apartments on lower floors start from $1.15m. Image / Supplied
Laneways of retail and hospitality connect Te Waihorotiu and Bledisloe House. Image / Supplied
The striking wedge shaped 21-storey Symphony Centre will feature street-level laneways, shops and restaurants, with mid-floors of office topped by the Symphony Residences – 11 floors of 78 apartments.
The development is being project managed by Kiwi company RCP on behalf of Malaysian developers MRCB, who have global experience in creating mixed-used projects around transport hubs.
RCP came on board five years ago to help MRCB bid for the land, a lengthy process managed by Auckland Council’s property arm Eke Panuku, and then plan and project manage the development.
At the time the deal was inked in early 2021, Eke Panuku said the site, which is on a 125-year fully paid-up lease, sold for $40m following a fully contestable market process supported by an independent valuation.
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The project has since expanded to a refurbishment into office and retail of the neighbouring Bledisloe House, the mid-century building that used to house council offices and a post office.
RCP director Cristean Monreal told OneRoof the striking wedge-shaped design of the building, created by architects Wood Bagot, made maximum use of the site, but allowed breathing room for Aotea Square.
“The wedge shape is a response to the sunlight angles off Aotea Square. The building was carved by light.”
Monreal said that securing Bledisloe House, on the other side of the laneway, made both projects work together. “For a laneway to be successful it needs to be activated on two sides, we need a comprehensive response to create a place, not just a laneway, but a sense of identity.”
The station and Symphony Centre will be linked by covered walkways – no escalators popping up in the retail podium as seen in overseas stations.
An open-air terrace is the separation point between office spaces and apartment floors. Image / Supplied
All 78 apartments in the Symphony Residences will have city views. Image / Supplied
“The building sits on top of the station, and there is a lot of integration and common walls,” Monreal said.
While tenants won’t be sought for the 18,000sqm of office and retail space until the building is close to completion, Ray White Orakei agents Ross Hawkins and Ben Sceats have started selling the 78 apartments in the development.
Hawkins told OneRoof that getting Overseas Investment Office exemption for foreign buyers would be a “game changer”. The three-bedroom penthouse has a $11.6m price tag but apartments on the lower floors can be bought for as little as $1.149m. Two and three-bedroom apartments start at $1.949m and $2.599m respectively.
“It [opens] up an opportunity for buyers around the world to invest in this first of its kind transport-oriented development. The leading-edge development will change the way people live in Auckland city,” Hawkins said.
The Symphony Residences will enjoy amenities such as a gym with wellness-oriented designs. Image / Supplied
The apartments will share a barbecue terrace, dining facilities and a movie theatre. Image / Supplied
Monreal said the Symphony Centre was key to revitalising the precinct.
“There’s been a natural move to the water, and that has dragged a lot of energy out of midtown,” he said, adding that council investment in K Rd and Myers Park had already brought benefits.
“I was just in Melbourne and I was walking at 11 o’clock at night and I felt safe because there were lots of people around. People bring energy, and that energy then brings shopping, and that starts to transform places.
“The town hall, the Saint James Theatre, they’re beautiful offers and it’s a great precinct.”
Monreal said the design of the apartments was deliberately made to appeal to owner-occupiers, who have access to amenities including a gym, a movie theatre, a dining room and an outdoor barbecue terrace.
“What we’re doing is creating homes in the sky, and every apartment has a view," he told OneRoof. “You’ll be living in a piece of art.”
- Apartments in the Symphony Residences start from $1.149m to $11.6m for the penthouse
