Alexandra Park, Auckland
Alexandra Park, Auckland
Alexandra Park is the home of the Auckland Trotting Club in Epsom, Auckland. The park consists of the Alexandra Park trotting track, conference centre, and a high-end urban village currently under construction. Alexandra Park hosts many feature harness races throughout the year including the Auckland Trotting Cup and is the home of the New Zealand Trotting Hall of Fame and museum.
The Epsom site has held races since 1890 and its regular Friday Night Trots under lights have been an Auckland institution since the 1950s. In recent years the club’s business model has been expanded and successfully overhauled. Under the current leadership of chief executive Dominique Dowding and the board of the Auckland Trotting Club considerable work has been done to ensure Alexandra Park’s continued success as well as a long-term financially viable future for harness racing in the northern region.
Emphasis has been put on delivering the board’s three strategic pillars: To revitalise and reposition harness racing in the region; Grow the business and attract new audiences; and Lift the value of the club’s existing property portfolio. The club’s strategic refocussing was recognised at the 2015 Westpac Auckland Business Awards where Alexandra Park took out the supreme title for ‘Excellence in Strategy & Planning’. In 2016 the club is a Central area finalist for ‘Excellence in Marketing’ and ‘Excellence in Customer Service Delivery’.
Recent operational milestones for the club have included merging with the Franklin Trotting Club to provide training facilities in Pukekohe to help reduce the costs for trainers. The board has also announced a number of incentives to lift racing participation at Alexandra Park.
2015 saw the construction and long-term leasing out of a training centre for Super 15 rugby franchise, The Auckland Blues.
Other tenants include Cirque du Soleil; Grand Park Chinese restaurant, Sport Auckland, Lollypops day-care, and Caltex and Burger King on Manukau Road. On course, The Alex Eatery is owned and operated by the club while the park’s TAB has the biggest turnover of any in the country, boasting an annual take of over $11m.
On Alexandra Park’s conference centre, considerable investment has been made to upgrade the functions facilities with ongoing improvements to in-house catering. Subsequently utilisation has risen from corporates, large public entities, service clubs and schools. At the same time Alexandra Park is promoting more race-night and hospitality events, with a focus to attract a higher spend audience.
The club’s different business units, events and activities are outlined on its website www.alexandrapark.co.nz Key to Alexandra Park’s ongoing success has been the decision to construct a significant urban village on part of the club’s carpark on Green Lane East. With the formal support of Auckland Trotting Club members, the board launched its 223 Green Lane West lifestyle village in early 2015, with construction due to be completed from late 2017 when the first of the 750 residents will start moving in.
The medium-density mixed-use brownfields development is not only one of Auckland’s largest under construction, it has also been dubbed one of Auckland’s best-selling. The project has its own website www.apliving.co.nz Alexandra Park’s urban village development has received plenty of positive media attention and praise. In the August/September edition of HOME magazine the development was placed the overall leader for ‘Density Done Well’. The designer apartments, townhouses, and penthouses will sit above a grocer, boutique retail, cafes and restaurants and among plenty of public spaces and promenades.
Auckland’s award-winning architectural firm RTA Studio is the lead architect. Vancouver urban design expert Joe Hruda is overseeing the outside transformation. Genellen and Canam Construction Limited are the builders while N-Compass are the project managers. Colliers International is leading the residential sales.
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Coordinates: 36°53′28″S 174°46′41″E / 36.8911°S 174.7781°E