New life for grand building
Central city high- rise office space is being turned into apartments, writes Donna Fleming
For half a century, the Civic Administration Building has been one of Auckland’s iconic central city highrises. Designed in the 1950s and completed in 1966, the 18- storey Auckland Council office block was the city’s first skyscraper and regarded as an excellent example of modernist architecture.
But the years took their toll and when the building needed a major upgrade, the council decided to sell it and let a developer give it a new lease of life.
When the property, which has a Category A heritage listing, was put out to international tender, 55 parties registered their interest. Eventually Auckland company Love & Co were chosen, and developer John Love couldn’t be happier.
“This is a really exciting project for us — it is a very special building in an incredible location,” he says.
John and his wife Josephine, who is Love & Co’s director of design, specialise in refurbishing and repurposing existing buildings, creating luxury 21st century homes. They gained plenty of experience turning office blocks into stunning residences in the years they worked for Josephine’s family’s firm Tawera Group; now they’re looking forward to tackling new developments with their own company.
John, whose background is in accountancy, is the “numbers and budgets” guy, while Josephine is an expert at design and “making things look amazing”, says John. “We work really well together, and love breathing new life into these buildings. We bring in top teams to do the architecture and construction, and we believe keeping a building and reinvigorating it makes a lot of sense from a conservation point of view.”
He says while they will be upgrading the administration building, now known as The CAB, inside and out, they won’t be changing the facade beyond recognition.
“We want to respect the rhythm and modulation of the original structure so it still looks like the building people have been familiar with for so long.”
It’s not just the tower block that Love & Co are focusing on — they’re also developing the area around The CAB. There will be a boutique hotel, another apartment block and a performance area facing on to Aotea Square. At around 55,000sq m in total, the development, Civic Quarter, will also include 4000sq m of restaurants and bars.
With so many entertainment venues literally on the doorstep, including the Aotea Centre, Town Hall and Q Theatre, The CAB residents are going to be spoilt for choice.
“It’s going to be a precinct where you can be immersed in arts and culture,” points out John. “It really is in the heart of the city.”
The CAB will be just 150m from the new Aotea railway station, part of the new City Rail Link currently under construction, and it’s a two- minute stroll across Aotea Square to Queen St.
There is a range of apartments on offer, from one- bedroom ones that are a generous 56sq m, through to five bedroom residences. They all have full entertainer’s kitchens, including the onebedroom options.
Loggias that can be transformed from an outdoor area into another living space thanks to sliding doors will be available in most apartments. Some have studies, and all have plenty of storage space. Car parks in the basement — there will be 350 — can be purchased.
John says they could have squeezed more apartments into the layout, but that goes against the company’s principles.
“We are going to stay true to our model and focus on good- sized apartments that people will enjoy living in. We would never build anything we wouldn’t live in ourselves, so the quality is going to be very high.”
The design theme is European elegance enhanced by plenty of natural materials such as wood. Large windows will make the apartments light and bright, as well as providing great city views. As well as putting a lot of thought into the refurbishment of the building, they’ve also considered how it will fit into the local community.
“It is really important for us to be neighbourly,” John says, “and we’ve started being involved in the community now, before we’ve even begun construction.”
They lit up the building in appropriate colours for both St Patrick’s Day and Pride Week, and on April 8 they’re sponsoring a free concert in Aotea Square, headlined by the Exponents.
Work starts this year and is due to be completed by 2020. THE CAB, MAYORAL DRIVE, AUCKLAND CBD OPTIONS: BODY CORP: INSPECT: SCHOOLS: CONTACT: ON THE WEB: