A landmark commercial and retail office block in the heart of Central Auckland — with substantial future development potential — has been placed on the market.
The 4876sq m building on the corner of Queen, Lorne and Rutland streets comprises a nine-storey block with multiple food service retailers at street level and eight levels of commercial office space above.
It sits on 1178sq m of flat contoured freehold land zoned Business City Centre – Queen Street Valley Precinct under the Auckland Unitary Plan.
The building is one of Queen St’s most instantly recognisable office towers, sitting directly across from Aotea Square and Auckland Town Hall as a gateway to the city’s education precinct housing the likes of the University of Auckland and AUT University.
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This location is set to substantially benefit from major infrastructure upgrades in the immediate area.
These include the City Rail Link, with nearby Aotea Station predicted to be the busiest station in New Zealand on completion, and the New Zealand International Convention Centre, due for completion late 2024.
The majority of the building is tenanted by OPAIC – a joint venture between Otago Polytechnic and Future Skills Academy Ltd. The organisation occupies seven of the eight office floors, providing a campus learning facility.
The premises were built in 1983 and substantially modernised and upgraded in 2012 when the ground-level shops were added. It has a New Build Standards rating of 185 per cent.
The lobby off Queen St was refurbished into a grand space featuring marble floors, richly textured wood panelling walls and feature lighting, while two new lifts were installed. Automated access to the office floors operates during the day, with controlled access outside standard business hours.
The high-profile property is being marketed for sale by deadline private treaty through Barfoot & Thompson Commercial, closing at 3pm on February 23.
Barfoot & Thompson Commercial salesperson John Stringer and residential sales colleague Helen Han are marketing the building for sale.
They said the street level facing onto Queen and Rutland streets was predominantly tenanted by food and beverage operations, providing a diversified income stream split almost evenly between retail and the office floors above.
“Sitting strategically so close to three major education facilities, the food and beverage operations within 350 Queen St benefit from substantial foot traffic consisting mainly of hungry and thirsty tertiary students at three different institutions,” Stringer said.
“Meanwhile, on the upper floors, the office space throughout has been consistently maintained to a high standard with carpeted floors and suspended ceilings reflecting a modern working environment. This delivers plenty of lecture-style meeting room and private office floor plates, in addition to a high standard of shared staff amenities.
“This makes the currently vacant space on the fifth floor attractive for potential new tenants looking for a turnkey office in the heart of the city.”
The building is currently 82 per cent leased, generating net annual rental of $2,217,804 plus GST and outgoings. When fully leased, the building is forecast to produce annual net rental of $2.8 million plus GST and outgoings.
Office floor plates within the building are generally square-shaped and range from 537 to 660sq m. The top floor, which has spectacular views over the surrounding central city, is 262sq m.
As the building sits well away from neighbouring premises because of its location on three major streets, all floors enjoy excellent levels of natural light.
Stringer said the fifth-floor configuration meant the space could be occupied by smaller individual tenants or combined to sustain occupancy by a medium-sized entity.
He said that in addition to increasing the rent roll, the property also had considerable development upside to increase its size – either up, on the side, or a combination of both.
“The building is well under the maximum gross floor area of 11,780sq m allowable under Auckland Council’s City Centre Zone, and provides the opportunity for additional floors to be added, or for building on the rear vacant land on the corner of Rutland and Lorne streets,” Stringer said.
“The City Centre Zone development standards provide for a building height of 50m above mean street level as a permitted activity. The building presently reaches a height of approximately 33.5m.
“As a result, an additional four floors could be constructed on top of the existing tower within the height limit.
“Previous preliminary engineering advice indicates that, subject to necessary council consent approvals, the structure of the tower is highly likely to accommodate up to eight additional floors without upgrading the existing columns or foundations.”
The premises is constructed of reinforced concrete columns and beams sitting on reinforced concrete floors and pillars with concrete spandrels.
Externally, the building’s strip glazed windows are set in aluminium joinery. Commercial-grade air conditioning units service all floors.
Stringer said the premises offered sound fundamentals such as a sought-after Queen St address with further development potential, and was located on a prime freehold site with multiple street frontages in a location which was set to significantly benefit from infrastructure upgrades in the immediate area.
- Article supplied by Barfoot & Thompson
