Queen St icon gets $20m revamp
The landmark 246 Queen St building in Auckland’s CBD is to have a $20 million makeover.
Building owner Wilshire Group has announced the redevelopment of the historic building, which was built by Sir Bob Kerridge and opened in July 1964.
Wilshire Group sales manager Christie Wrightson said the company planned to restore the eight-storey building to its former glory while redeveloping it to suit today’s businesses, retailers and hospitality operators.
It was the first of Wilshire’s commercial redevelopments.
A newcomer to Auckland property development, Wilshire Group is owned by Vincent Wan from Hong Kong, and Sishuo Huang and Quan Li from Auckland. It was incorporated in August 2015, according to Companies Office records.
The company said Auckland CBD’s ‘‘midtown’’ where 246 Queen St was located was poised for revival with the opening of the new Aotea Station, and the company intended to be a leader in that.
The redevelopment would be 250 metres from the new railway station, which would bring people into a part of the city populated by educational and cultural facilities and services including the University of Auckland, AUT University, the Auckland Art Gallery, Aotea Square and the Auckland Town Hall.
Architecture firm Fearon Hay had been commissioned to renovate the building and real estate agency CBRE would manage leasing of the commercial space.
Jeff Fearon said his firm’s designs took inspiration from the history of the building as a centre of Auckland fashion.
CBRE director Matt Hockey said once the City Rail Link was completed the number of people within 30 minutes of the CBD was expected to double and 246 Queen St was well located to service the increased foot traffic.
The company said the redevelopment would meet the growing demand for quality office space as well as offer a range of cafes and restaurants.
The Britomart Transport Centre had driven the transformation of downtown Auckland and 246 Queen St would be an early leader in doing the same for midtown Auckland.
The first two floors of 246 Queen St, about 1900 square metres, would be retail and food and beverage with lettings managed by Match Realty. The upper six floors, about 6100sqm, would be commercial space.
Commercial businesses could operate as early as January 2020 and retailers could do so from the fourth quarter of 2019, Wilshire said.
Demolition works would start later this month with construction planned to begin in October, led by Alaska Construction. The entire building was being revamped, and most of level one would be demolished to give greater height to the ground-floor retail area.
Wilshire said it had no other commercial activity in the pipeline but was looking for buying opportunities.