The former Lion Breweries site on Khyber Pass Road in Newmarket is in the process of becoming a new mixed-use campus for Auckland University.
The university said it is incorporating purpose-built teaching and research facilities, student accommodation, business development and other facilities, to support a further thirty to fifty years of growth, ensuring its space needs for the future.
The 5.2 hectare space will not only offer central integration with the City and Grafton campuses but will have major economic and social benefits to the area of Newmarket.
Newmarket will need to cater to a large number of students and research staff, which will undoubtedly result in an increase of business in the area.
It is essential to maximise the income opportunities for Newmarket in order to continue development and support a growing, vital part of the Auckland community.
Newmarket Business Association chief executive Ashley Church said last week that the number of people arriving in the area will bring new opportunities and challenges.
“The younger people will bring an entire new complexion to businesses in the area, meaning places such a bars will stay open after midnight because they will need to cater to that market,” said Church.
The local community have also expressed encouraging views about the development on Khyber Pass Road.
“I think it’s great, it’s going to bring a lot of money to this area and that’s exactly what this place needs,” says Angela Von, shop assistant at Colestown Chocolates.
Another local revealed how it will be a good thing, which will bring new ideas and more young people, investing in Newmarket and investing in our future.
Church said that there is ten year strategic planning in Newmarket and this development will change the nature of the plan quite substantially.
“We will have to take into account what this impact will have on it. For example the sorts of amenities that we might provide, the traffic network in Newmarket, the ways in which we would support the university as a member of our business community.”
The expansion will also impact Newmarket in regards to student accommodation planning to be built for the University.
Church stated that over the next two or three years the area will start to see consents for some large residential developments as people recognise that is an opportunity.
This will potentially determine a change to the demographic in Newmarket that it has not traditionally catered for. The area is renowned for being high-end fashion and significantly older fashion but this is likely to change with the inflow of young students.
Church also revealed how it will be a good thing for Newmarket overall and suggested “Newmarket may look to develop over time, symbiotic relationships between the university and the community.”
“I understand at this stage the site will occupy engineering and teachers training but I would imagine that will grow. So we will be looking and saying to what degree can we offer internships and opportunities for cooperating with the university to essentially help both parties.”
The social and economic opportunities this development will bring express confidence in where the area is headed.
Church agreed with the comment that this development is investing in Newmarket and indeed our future. He stated that “the impact on infrastructure will have a considerable impact on capital investment by council and by private operators in a relatively short space of time.”
He believes it is a huge investment both financially and in terms of commitment to the area over the next fifty years.
The new addition of Auckland University is going to substantially affect the future of Newmarket and the community within it.