The Civic Administration Building. Photo/Richard Robinson
Its windows are covered in grime, one is boarded up, its footpath littered with leaves, surrounded by the homeless. Yet for more than five decades, it was Auckland Council's multi-million-dollar 18-level towering headquarters, the centre of civic life, a place pulsing with people and energy. So why has the heritage-listed
Civic Administration Building stood empty for half a decade, despite a promise that it would be at the centre of a $500 million CBD revitalisation?
The ex-Auckland Council headquarters in central Auckland has stood empty for the past five years and now a councillor wants answers.
Councillor Mike Lee said the building has been empty for half a decade and is demanding a full investigation into why the valuable 18-level Civic Administration Building (CAB) remains unused after it was sold for a $300m development project which has never eventuated.
"I opposed the sale - more like giveaway - of the CAB, though councillors were never given a clear-cut opportunity to make a decision," Lee said today, criticising the sale process announced in 2016 but which he said was not transparent.
"I opposed the mass evacuation of council staff from the purpose-built CAB to the former ASB Bank headquarters and the costs of 135 Albert St which are still mounting."