One of Malaysia’s biggest developers is refurbishing a $41 million ex-Auckland Council heritage-listed office block above one of the new underground City Rail Link train stations, opening next year.
The $3.2 billion Asian business is yet to pay the council for the lease of Bledisloe House or an adjoining site for its planned $600m Symphony Centre.
Cristean Monreal, a director of consultants RCP, is working for Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad (MRCB) to do up Bledisloe House between Wellesley St and Aotea Square.
MRCB is listed on the Malaysian Stock Exchange and has about $US1.9b ($3.2b) of assets.
One of the country’s busiest builders, L.T. McGuinness, is working on the exterior, which is covered in white wrapping over scaffolding.
Fitout/refurbishment specialist Black is doing the interiors, Monreal said.
Neither Monreal nor the council will say what price the Malaysians are contracted to pay for the lease on the big empty office block.
Allan Young, development chief at the council’s Auckland Urban Development Office, said a deposit was paid. The balance is due at the end of the year.
The facade works being carried out met with the terms of the development agreement which allowed MRCB to do preliminary work, Young said.
“This is almost complete and the scaffolding is due to come down in a few weeks. A performance bond is in place as security for the completion of these works,” he said.
Monreal said the building is a 13,000sq m nine-level brutalist architecture block with a grid-like facade, designed in 1959 by Gordon Wilson with Jack Beere.
Cheshire Architects and Peddlethorp Architects designed the refurbishment of the former Government services building which Monreal said was more than 100% of the new build code.
In 2021, MRCB struck a deal to buy a 125-year leasehold interest in the site and building.
Auckland Council values Bledisloe House at $41m:
In 2019, the Herald’s Bernard Orsman wrote that the council was considering selling one of its most prized assets in Bledisloe House and its neighbouring carpark spread across a single level of bare land.
In 2021, the office block and carpark site were leased to MRCB on a 125-year term:
The two-site project covers 4750sq m and connected street laneways are planned at ground level between the old and new buildings.
Beneath the carpark, the City Rail Link’s Te Waihorotiu Station has been built under Wellesley St and Victoria St and it is on that carpark that the Symphony Centre is planned.
Monreal said all air conditioning, lighting and services had been stripped from Bledisloe House and were being replaced.
Louvre-style shutters on the facade were being removed.
Bayleys had run an informal leasing campaign for the commercial space for the past year and a half.
Colliers’ Sam Gallagher was now launching a new campaign in an attempt to draw new tenants.
“The building has been cleared ready for the fitout of space, which will occur as leasing happens. The exterior works are due to be completed at the end of this year,” Monreal said.
Bledisloe House was an elegant bastion of mid-century design that played a crucial role in the city’s built history, MRCB said.
“Its regeneration will bestow it with a new role as a catalyst in Auckland’s future,” MRCB says on its website for Bledisloe House.
RCP said refurbishing the building aimed to turn an inward-looking structure into an outward-looking one.
“A challenge with heritage buildings is that, more often than not, the most desirable building features are the least compliant. RCP is leading the team in achieving a solution that satisfies both the building regulations and heritage aspects,” it said.
On the price MRCB will pay for the lease on Bledisloe House, Young of the council said last week: “The sales value will be released at the time of settlement later this year, which is our standard practice on releasing sales values.”
The council is also yet to get its $3m from selling its former headquarters: the Civic Administration Building on Aotea Square, now converted into more than 100 apartments.
In March, the Herald reported on some of the world’s largest banks and investment firms sending representatives to Auckland for the Government’s Investment Summit.
MRCB was on that list.
Bledisloe House
Anne Gibson has been the Herald‘s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.