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Updated 16 August 2018 We wrote nine months ago about the projected shortage of hotels in the city centre due to high demand, and about the new developments that were underway at the time. Since then we've seen a huge number of new ...

City Rail Link have just released new virtual tours of the new and redeveloped stations that will be opened when works are completed, scheduled to be in early 2024. You can see some of art and design features woven into the fabric of the stations,...

International fashion brand H&M opens its Auckland flagship today in the brand new Commercial Bay development located at the waterfront end of Queen Street. By the end of next year, this much anticipated new addition to the city centre will be home...

We see kindness every day here in the city centre, shared between strangers, friends, family and colleagues. This week, it’s more evident than usual, thanks to Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) Day. RAK days are celebrated around the world, and NZ’s is this...

Tomorrow brings American Express Restaurant Month to a close for another year. We've pulled together some of the most delectable food shots and vibrant event moments in celebration of the brilliant city centre restaurants that make this event such a...

From 6 – 14 October, we’re celebrating Artweek 2018 in the city centre and encouraging Aucklanders to discover our cultural heartbeat - from galleries to art in the streets and corporate art collections. We're a longstanding major partner of...

With Auckland Heritage Festival kicking off later this month and the city going through big changes at the moment, we were inspired to talk to a few city centre businesses with a whole lot of history - over 400 years’ between them to be more exact –...

In 1934, Marbecks was opened, the Levy Building on Customs Street (home to RJB Design and Xuxu) got the art deco makeover you can still see today, around half a million people lived in Auckland and we were nearing the end of the Great Depression. 1934...

Five designs have been revealed for a new tower on the waterfront side of the Sky Tower at 65 Federal Street, in a competition run by Australian-based property developers ICD. The brief to the competing architects – local firm Warren &...

We recently held a safety meet-up for more than 40 interested businesses in the city centre. Members of the local Police Crime Prevention and Beat team gave us an overview of their role in the city centre, discussed prevention programmes such as...

Park(ing) Day is celebrated around the world on 21 September - it's an annual event where community groups, architects and anyone else who's interested takes over on-street car parking spaces to create places for people for the day. Take a look at what's...

It’s nearly three years since early works for CRL began in the city centre, and with realistic video flythroughs of the stations being released and enabling works not too far from being complete, it’s getting easier to imagine the day (in about six years...

The eighth outing for our American Express Restaurant Month in August 2018 has been another success story for the city and for the businesses involved. Among the participating 108 restaurants, spending was up 9.7% compared to 2017’s event, to a...

Artweek takes place in the city centre from 6 - 14 October 2018. Click here for full event details. As well as the art you’ll find in the city’s streets, public spaces and galleries, there’s an incredible range of art in the boardrooms and offices of...

Artweek takes place in the city centre from 6 - 14 October 2018. Click here for full event details. This year for Artweek in the city centre, local artists are taking on some of the big issues facing Auckland with art installations in the city’s streets...

From delivering a marketing campaign that had 88% of Auckland respondents tell us “the city centre has a lot of diverse and exciting experiences waiting for me” to improving how construction impact on business is managed and making a financial...

Find out more about the work we're undertaking this year to support a successful city centre, from increasing awareness of access options and exploring ways to further unlock the 24/7 economy, to continuing our successful marketing programme to...

This weekend's Auckland Diwali Festival celebrations in the city centre are being complemented by our newly revamped Queen Street Lights, which will add subtle colour to the trees between Customs and Victoria Streets including Vulcan...

Late Night Art last Tuesday evening brought thousands of art lovers out into the city centre's streets and galleries to celebrate our creative community. We captured some of the highlights and talked to people about their night. We'...

Commercial space, residential buildings, a linear park and America's Cup bases are among the many new developments underway in the Wynyard Quarter area. See where construction is happening on the map below, with an up close look at some of the...

There’s a lot that's gone on behind the scenes to prepare for the royals’ arrival in Wynyard Quarter today, and the 10,000 spectators expected to come out to see them. As well as the meticulous plans and security measures...

In a city that’s in the midst of huge change, no area is changing more than Wynyard Quarter. From a largely industrial area dominated by wharves, marine industry and lots of car parks to a thriving neighbourhood mixing residents, international head...

We’re celebrating one of the city’s special occasions and supporting this important time for business with our annual Christmas decorations and marketing campaign.  We hope to see a similarly successful Christmas season for the city centre as we...

In the lead up to Christmas, we ran a campaign in association with Auckland Transport to raise awareness of the $2 per hour parking rates in Auckland Transport’s city centre car parks (Civic, Downtown and Victoria Street) on the weekends and evenings....

Locals do most of the spending in the city centre, with people from the wider Auckland region accounting for almost two thirds of total consumer spending over the three months from July to September. Of these Aucklanders, most are from the central...

Auckland city centre's night time economy is valued at about $450m a year and it's got significant potential to grow further. We've started exploring how best to support this growth by commissioning some research and meeting with industry...

Submission to the Proposed changes to the Public Nuisance and Safety Bylaw 2013 Introduction: Heart of the City is the business association for the city centre, which includes more than 4000 commercially rated properties and 12,000+ businesses. We are...

Just over a year ago, we’d never heard of Onzo or Lime. If you wanted to do a short hop between meetings or shops in the city centre, you’d have to grab an Uber, the Link bus or walk. In the past 12 months we’ve seen huge change in how people get around...

This piece by our CEO Viv Beck was published in the NZ Herald's Project Auckland special on 14 December 2018. This time last year, I wrote a Christmas wish list to address the perennial issue of Auckland's big decisions going round and round — an...

Fashion will be at the fore in the city centre when NZ Fashion Week returns to the Town Hall at the end of August, almost two decades after its debut there.  Aotea Quarter will be abuzz with the well dressed attendees of the four-day trade show and...

On Sunday 17 November, thousands of curious Aucklanders were allowed behind the construction hoardings to explore the first completed section of the City Rail Link tunnel.  Members of the public went below ground at Britomart Station before...

"Late Night Christmas" returns to the heart of Auckland city – Thursday 19 December, 5-8pm Auckland’s city centre is pulling out all the stops for last-minute Christmas shoppers wanting to turn gift buying into an enjoyable, festive evening out at Heart...

You may have met some of the CityWatch team who are here to support a safe and inviting city centre environment by ensuring compliance with Auckland Council bylaws in public places. This includes dealing with nuisance activities including obstructive or...

Contact lenses being turned into park benches, oyster shells from Viaduct long lunches enriching composted food waste and endlessly refillable salon hair products are just a few great recent examples we’ve seen lately where city centre businesses are...