Welly’s big property week
Revamps and new buildings have given the capital a glossy new look. Catherine Harris reports.
It’s been a week of announcements and completions in Wellington, with a major office refurbishment, an airport extension and a coastal office block all in the news.
The first is the completion of Kiwi Property’s Aurora Centre which has been revamped for the Ministry of Social Development.
Situated at 56 The Terrace, the ministry has taken an 18-year lease on the building, which is within close walking distance of the Beehive.
Kiwi Property, which booked a record annual profit of $250.8 million this year, owns 35,000 sqm of office space in Wellington, including the neighbouring 44 The Terrace and the Majestic Centre.
Refurbishment of 44 The Terrace is due to be finished next month and the building is 80 per cent let, mostly to government agencies. Both revamps are expected to cost Kiwi $85m in total.
Also this week Wellington Airport has opened its $58m, 6000sqm extension to the main terminal.
The project, which began 18 months ago, adds about a third more space, extra gates and more width to its southern piers.
Architects Warren & Mahoney, which also designed the airport’s international terminal, The Rock, said the extension to the piers would provide ’’an intimate lounge experience with lower height space,’’ extensive glazing and a sense of warmth.
The extension work is part of a $250m five-year airport development plan which includes a $70m car park building and a new Rydges hotel
Passengers are already using the new Avsec screening area instead of being screened at individual gates, which should speed up the security process.
The new extension is the first major work to the main terminal building since it opened in 1999, and will help cope with increased passenger numbers, which have increased from about 9000 to 15,000 a day.
Further north, the first of several new developments have been announced at Coastlands shopping centre in Paraparaumu.
Coastlands director Richard Mansell said construction would start this month on a $3m, 400sqm office/retail building, Takiri House, which would be the first of two ‘‘mini complexes’’ on Rimu Rd.
The work was in line with the local council’s vision to make Kapiti town centre more connected, linking Coastlands to the civic precinct and developing Rimu Rd as a main street.
‘‘Kapiti’s narrow demographics in the past have prohibited larger and popular shops to commit, however the expressway will bring in new and exciting opportunities, which we plan to act on,’’ Mansell said.
Paraparaumu is gearing up for higher population growth as a result of the new MacKays to Peka Peka expressway, which retail commentator Chris Wilkinson of First Retail Group said had generated fresh appetite for investment into the area.