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Are Covid and City Rail to Blame for Chinese Billionaire’s Delayed Plans? New Zealand’s Tallest Building on Hold.
The Shanghai business magnate, Furu Ding, has plans to construct New Zealand’s tallest building in Auckland. However, Ding has recently applied for – and been granted – a last minute extension to his building consent after he claimed the delays are due to Auckland’s city rail link and Covid complications.
The billionaire owns significant portions of New Zealand land and commercial interests, as well as a chain of luxury and high end hotels located throughout China and Singapore.
In 2017, the Overseas Investment Office (also known as the OIO) granted Ding permissions to build a $350 million Ritz Carlton Hotel and 52-storey tower on the Auckland site he had acquired in 2012. The vacant lot at 106 Albert Street is large – ringing in at 4417 square meters – and was purchased by Ding in 2012 for $53 million.
The extension application reportedly states that the development will include a cinema complex, food court, and a retail hub in addition to the 300-room five star hotel. Claiming that the development will “transform” the empty lot, Beca planner Michael Guy states that the “landmark tower hotel building … will significantly improve the public realm.”
Despite owning the land for a decade, and gaining consent five years ago, the project has not been started. In fact, the resources consent obtained by Ding was set to expire in October of 2021.
In a last minute manoeuvre, just days before the expiration date, Ding applied for an eight year extension to the consent – which was granted. The consent deadline is now October 2029.
In defence of Ding, Guy has reiterated the billionaire’s commitment to the project but claims that CRL construction delays and those of the pandemic were underestimated.
"Construction has not yet started. This is largely attributed to the intensity of construction activities surrounding the site associated with the CRL and the need to resolve integration issues with CRL before seeking the construction consents.
As a result, the consent owner has delayed the start of the development until the CRL construction works near the site are near completion (understood to be late 2023)."
It is noted in the application that the site has been vacant for nearly thirty years – ten of which it has been in the hands of Ding – and that it presents an eye sore in Auckland. The application goes on to claim that by not extending the consent the authorities would only prolong such an eye sore even longer.
According to principal specialist planner Daniel Kinnoch, the lack of evidence of physical progress is due to the fact that efforts have been focussed off site due to the complexities of the CRL project. Instead, the applicant has undertaken groundwater monitoring ahead of any excavation activity, in addition to design work and other financial investments.
Francois Dubouit, project director for Link Alliance, has been in discussion with NDG since 2013 and states that as far as the Link Alliance believes, there is “nothing that prevents NDG Asia Pacific (NZ) from progressing the design construction of its building."
Work on the tower is required to begin by March 2027, according to the OIO consent.
Ding, however, has a record of failing to meet property and investment requirements set forth to him by New Zealand authorities.
In 2012 he was granted consent to buy the 28 hectare piece of land that was once the Sapich Bros vineyard. The $5 million purchase was approved on the understanding that Ding was to continue running the wine business and increase the winery’s production in order to supply his Chinese hotels, and that Ding was to become ‘ordinarily resident’ in New Zealand by 2015. However, in 2019 he was ordered to dispose of the property due to his failure to fulfil his obligations, breaching the conditions of his consent, and breaching overseas investment rules.