Former ANZ building's $10m refurbishment in Wellington complete
The refurbished high-rise which has been renamed Ricoh House.
The $10 million refurbishment of the former ANZ building on Wellington's waterfront is complete.
The building's owner, Cornerstone Partners, is remaining tight lipped on the identity of the tenant but said it was a "high profile Wellington corporate" that signed a three-year lease for the top nine floors of the 11-storey building on Victoria Street.
Cornerstone Partners chief executive Andrew Cotterrell said the tenant did not want to be named because it was still negotiating an exit of an existing lease.
Andrew Cotterrell, chief executive of Cornerstone Partners, in front of the former ANZ building.
The company planned to move in about June.
READ MORE: Cornerstone Investments to refurbish ex-ANZ on Victoria St
The refurbishment took more than a year and included rewiring, plumbing, and installing new air-conditioning, lifts, lights, carpets, ceilings, showers, toilets and cycle parking facilities.
Cotterrell said Cornerstone's decision a year ago to do portfolio-wide strengthening work came a at good time.
"The earthquake came in our favour … because all of a sudden there was a flight for quality," Cotterrell said.
The 30-year old building formerly had a B seismic rating, but has been upgraded to grade A.
Colliers International research found Wellington's office space vacancy rate was at an all-time low in the first three months of this year. past quarter.
Ricoh New Zealand intends to open a shop on the ground floor, and will lease part of the first floor for offices along with Cornerstone Partners.
Thebuilding has been renamed Ricoh House.
The refurbishment was one of the largest undertaken by Cornerstone Partners, which bought the building for $14.7m in December 2015.
The company is working on bringing its entire portfolio of 20 buildings up to 100 per cent of the national building code, where possible.
"We decided to do everything now because 30 years from now who knows what the building code will look like, what's 100 now could be 85," Cotterrell said.
Next to be refurbished would be building that housed popular Irish bar Molly Malone's on Courtenay Place, and a rear section of the Harbour City Centre on Lambton Quay, both of which are earthquake prone, he said.
Cotterrell said the Courtenay Pl building could be demolished.
"At the moment we're trying to work out what to do with the Molly Malone's building, it's not heritage so it could be torn down."
Work could begin on the site by the end of this year although the company was currently focused on assessing the Harbour City Centre and redesigning it for offices space.
Cornerstone Partners also owned 69 Tory St, which has recenlty undergone a $4m dollar refurbishment and has been leased to the Technical Advisory Services for nine years.
- Stuff
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