Wellington’s eye-catching Spark Central building
Brokers are predicting strong international investor interest in the Spark Central Wellington building, which has now been placed on the market for sale.
The Spark Wellington headquarters — at 40-48 Willis St — is one of the largest and highest quality office assets in the CBD, says CBRE New Zealand executive chairman Brent McGregor.
The 12-level building completed in December 2011 incorporates a refurbished heritage building on its Willis St frontage, plus a new 11-floor office tower on Boulcott St.
There are also three-levels of underground car parking and an internal pedestrian link through the building connecting both city thoroughfares.
The freehold property is for sale via expressions of interest, closing at 4pm on July 5.
McGregor says with singular angled glass facades rising above the street, the building has a prominent position in the Wellington skyline.
“This design feature contributing to Spark Central won the 2012 Wellington Architecture award for commercial architecture,” he says.
“Judges also lauded the building’s atrium, incorporating a transparent lift-shaft and open stairwell, connecting various levels.”
Occupying a 3658sq m site with a net lettable area of about 28,000sq m, the building has floor plates ranging from about 1336sq m to 2,837sq m.
In the CBD on Wellington’s “Golden Mile”, opposite Chews Lane, McGregor says the Spark Central building is close to public transport routes and the northern motorway, providing high levels of amenity for its tenants. High-profile tenants include Stuff, Spark, BNZ and AMP.
CBRE Wellington managing director Matthew St Amand says an opportunity to acquire a premium office tower in the heart of Wellington CBD is rare.
“Spark Central is an attractive institutional grade building; a 5 Green Star-rated office complex that merges heritage architecture, futuristic facades and sky-bridges, glass elevators and leading interior design concepts,” he says. “With a net Income of about $14.4m pa net, the building is expected to draw significant international interest from groups looking for large scale deals.”
He points to elevated interest in quality buildings following the Kaikoura earthquakes of 2016. “With an A+ grade seismic rating, Spark Central is well placed to benefit from Wellington’s vacancy and strong forecast rental growth and offers investors a high-quality income stream.”