Catalyst House presents the opportunity to retain or redevelop

A 10-storey office tower in central Wellington, which has the potential to be converted into student accommodation, is up for sale.

Catalyst House on Willis Street, owned by Auckland firm KC Securities, sits on 1318 square metres of land and has Catalyst as its anchor tenant.

CBRE Wellington associate director Rick Stace said the building could be refurbished office space or converted to residential accommodation.

"Catalyst House is ideally located for conversion to student accommodation due to its close proximity to Victoria University's Pipitea and Kelburn Campuses and Massey University's Wellington Campus.

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"Student numbers within the city continue to climb and the city is experiencing a shortage of accommodation."

The tower was built in 1984 and has a seismic rating of 70 per cent national building standard. It has a lettable area of 4157sqm. 

CBRE Wellington managing director Matthew St Amand said: "With the city currently experiencing historically low CBD office vacancy, Catalyst House presents an opportunity to refurbish the building to cater for the strong demand for quality, seismically compliant, office space."

The building, which has a net income of $792,000 a year, includes ground floor retail space, as well as 40 car parks, of which 12 are at ground level and the remaining 28 on the first floor. 

A small single storey building sits to the north of the site and is integrated with retail areas on the ground floor of the main building.