Extent of Churchland Leasehold Apartments

Apartment Specialists Podcast No: 56

Summary:

Where is the Churchland leasehold land? Why is it necessary to know what leasehold land is in the area? Which apartments in Churchland are leasehold? These are just a few of the questions answered by Apartment Specialists.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Good day. My name's Andrew Murray. Today,  I'm talking to you about leasehold apartments and specifically Methodists Church leasehold apartments in Auckland CBD.

It's located here, as you can see by the red mark I've got up here. You've got Queen Street, which is New Zealand's main street coming through the CBD, all the way up here. So you're going up the hill here past Real Groovy, and you can see this little area here. We have 260 apartments made up of two complexes. Now, it's got a bit of a history, but I will go in a bit more, so we can see it closer.

Here, you can see Queen Street. Then you can see this is where the Methodists Church leasehold land of the apartments are built on. As we go in further, you can see it here. Basically, we've got two complexes. You've got Q City which is this one. This is made up of 90 apartments. And you've Q Central here, which made up of 170 apartments. Now, these are all leasehold land. It's owned by the Methodists Church and the rights have been sold off to developers to, obviously, develop the apartments.

The interesting thing about these apartments is, on top of being leasehold, they actually have no lifts. So, they go up about six floors. You get on the sixth floor, a bit more. Basically, every floor you've got to go up by stairs, which creates quite a bit of exercise.  You've got City Road here, Liverpool Street here, which is actually very steep. This is at the bottom of the city zone, that's freehold, so it's just this gap here. Now, the history behind it, is before this was developed, it was actually a hotel that burnt down. Then it stood vacant for a long time, and it was bought by the Virginia Group, which is associated with Mainzeal.

Then after that, it was then purchased by David Henderson, Henderson's Group. Then in 2004, we had these apartments pop up, basically. Then before this it was actually a Salvation Army, and then before that it was Auckland Girl's Grammar, and then the Methodists' Church College which was built in 1840. It's actually got quite a history, this site. This is a patch that most people don't realise is leasehold, because it's sort of in the middle of nowhere. Everything around it is freehold in regards to apartments, except for this little area.

I hope this helps you understand a little bit more of what leasehold apartments are in the CBD. As I mentioned, there are five places, and this is the fourth one. The next one I'll be talking about is down on Anzac and Beach Road, where you've got unique lodge apartments.

Cheers!