Death, taxes and car parks: James Brown and Simon Rowntree are part of a moneymaking enterprise that has an air of inevitability around it. As long as there are cars, people will require places to park them.
For the private pair, Tournament Parking has proven to be the catalyst for an estimated $250 million property portfolio with constant, machine-driven cashflow.
Brown and Rowntree are also the company's directors, although both have been replaced as shareholders. Ownership is now split down the middle and held by Auckland-based shareholders Joanne Rowntree and Rowntree Trustee, along with Katherine Buchanan and Harvey Brown.
Tournament operates seven carparks in Auckland CBD and four parks in the city suburb of Newmarket. This includes the restoration of the 2.89ha former city works depot bordering Auckland’s CBD, which was previously known as Rhubarb Lane.
It was bought for $35m in 2012 and is now valued at $58.5m.
In 2014, Brown and Rowntree also offered Auckland Council $75m for an inner-city 890-space parking building but the council rejected the offer.
Tournament was the nation’s second-largest operator in 2013 when it sold 63 car park leases and management agreements to Wilson Parking for $29.4m.
According to Companies Office records, Brown resides in a $6.5m Freemans Bay property while Rowntree lives in a $9.5m Parnell home and has another two multimillion-dollar properties on Waiheke Island.
2018: $200 million