The world's second-richest royal might soon sell his empty Auckland office block. The billionaire Sultan of Brunei owns the largely vacant BNZ Centre at 125 Queen St.
But the building might become apartments if real estate agent Graham Wall succeeds with a deal he has been working on since lastyear.
"It's miles away. We're at the very beginning of starting that discussion," Mr Wall said.
PM John Key met the sultan last week at the East Asia Summit. The sultan once owned a group of Herne Bay houses and showed considerable interest in New Zealand, buying the big Queen St property. But he put the houses up for sale and is understood to have been keen to sell the BNZ block for some years.
"Apart from the New World Metro, the building is virtually empty."
A variation to the building's resource consent would be needed for the large-scale conversion but Mr Wall hoped Auckland Council would agree to this readily because its policies tried to encourage a lively CBD.
"A change like this would encourage more people to live in the CBD," Mr Wall said.