Westpac announces new home
101 Queen Street East to house bank after issues with previous site
Westpac has revealed the location of its new home in Hastings, months after closing down its branch in the CBD. The banking giant temporarily closed its branch in Hastings CBD in March following a “building assessment”.
The branch has remained shut since, apart from ATM services, and the future of the five-storey building in the heart of Hastings has been unclear.
Westpac has now announced it will not be returning to the building which it called home for 20 years.
The bank will instead open a new branch about 100m away at 101 Queen Street East, which until recently housed the Hastings Health Centre.
The two-storey art deco building on the corner of Queen and Russell streets is currently being renovated and the bank plans to open the branch in April 2022.
Westpac’s former home in the centre of Hastings is now up for lease through real estate company Bayleys.
Bayleys confirmed it was currently negotiating with parties to lease the building as well as negotiating with a potential buyer.
Bayleys real estate agent Rollo Vavasour said the property had been evaluated by structural engineers and it had received an “A-grade” rating.
“We have got reports from several structural engineers who have given the building an A-grade seismic rating,” Vavasour said.
Westpac New Zealand general manager of consumer banking Gina Dellabarca said they were looking forward to moving into their new premises in Hastings.
“It’s a beautiful art deco building which we’ll be fitting out with a range of banking facilities for the community. It’ll be a great new home for our team of banking specialists across consumer, business and agribanking,” she said.
“The team is doing a great job serving their customers out of Havelock North, where we’ve extended our opening hours, and Napier, but look forward to returning to Hastings when the new branch opens.”
A 24-hour lobby in the old building at 103 Heretaunga St in Hastings remains open with a Smart ATM and cash exchange machine.
A sign remains up at the branch pointing clients to their nearest branch in Havelock North.
Westpac has previously stated that the closure of its branch on March 10 was the result of a “building assessment” but had nothing to do with an offshore earthquake and subsequent tsunami warning which happened on the same day as the closure.