More than 20 years after founding Tournament Parking, James Brown and Simon Rowntree are still reaping the benefits of their 50/50 partnership in a lucrative parking business that provided the foundation for a property portfolio estimated to be worth more than $250 million.
Over the past two decades Tournament has been a virtual money machine. Based on a minimum daily rate of $25 and an average occupancy of 85%, the 650 parking bays at the old City Works depot could potentially earn more than $3m a year. Likewise, their strategically located Shortland St car park – valued at $48m and owned on a 50/50 basis with the Manson family – could realise similar annual income from 450 bays costing a minimum of $36 a day.
One sign of their considerable wealth emerged in 2014 when they made an audacious – but ultimately unsuccessful – cash offer of $75m for Auckland Council’s huge Downtown car park. In a rare interview with Radio New Zealand to support the bid, Brown said "we are born and bred Aucklanders, we're strong supporters of the mayor and government's vision for the city rail link.”
With about 80 car parks in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch, 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. Wilson subsequently sought to buy another 10 Tournament leases in 2015 but had to settle for five sites after the Commerce Commission raised concerns about a substantial lessoning of competition.
Tournament still operates nine Auckland sites but the main game for Brown and Rowntree is 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. Brown has declared their intention to hold the property for at least a generation.
"We have a vision for the city works depot. We understand and respect the story and great achievements of the architecture and plan to retain the buildings. We will create a desirable district for high energy/personality businesses that proliferate this side of the Auckland CBD.”
Another investment opportunity is their 50/50 partnership with property finance manager Jared Lynch in Newgate Capital, which was established in 2014 to offer the property market a flexible non-banking finance option. ‘We are simply three guys who have known each other for a long time, trust each other and have complementing skills,” the Newgate website says.
Unlike Lynch, who has more than 500 LinkedIn connections, Brown and Rowntree are known to be intensely private. Internet searches produce no images or personal information apart from two pencil drawings on the Newgate website that display a bespectacled Brown and hirsute Rowntree.
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 $5.4m property on Waiheke Island.