Dust off your dollars for colonial gem

Vulcan Lane. Photo / Supplied

The character building housing the historic Queens Ferry Hotel, which claims to be Auckland's oldest pub, situated at 12 Vulcan Lane in the CBD, is being offered for sale by auction at the end of this month.

The building is being marketed by Bayleys agents Henry Thompson and Stuart Bode and will go under the hammer at 11am on Wednesday, March 31 at the offices of Bayleys Real Estate Ltd, 4 Viaduct Harbour Ave.

"This is a trophy investment opportunity that ticks all the boxes," Thompson says. "It is an affordable standalone CBD building with a freehold tenure and is in a prime retail position in the heart of Vulcan Lane. It is fully leased and provides excellent cashflow from the long-established Queens Ferry Hotel.

"This investment is a three-level character building and comprises a very rare find in the heart of the Auckland CBD," Thompson says. "It is perfectly positioned between Auckland's premier fashion and dining quarter in High St and the prime Queen St retail area. Vulcan Lane boasts one of the highest pedestrian counts in Auckland and is highly sought after by national and international retailers."

Thompson says the opportunity to buy the Queens Ferry building is "worthy of serious consideration by all astute investors and family trusts".

The building's area is 118sq m and comes with a one-ninth share of a rear service lane of 70sq m.

Bode says 12 Vulcan Lane is a three-level masonry building constructed in the late 1800s, comprising basement, ground and two upper floor tenancies.

Access to the upper floors is external, via a stairway off Vulcan Lane, while the basement is accessed internally from the ground floor.

The building is occupied by Hunter & Co Ltd trading as Queens Ferry Hotel which leases the basement, ground and upper floors at an annual rental of $179,177. The eight-year lease commenced in September 2004 with three renewable terms of four years taking it through to September 27, 2024.

The property is located within the city council's Core Strategic Management Area (SMA) containing the country's largest concentration of highrise buildings and viewed as a prime location for a range of activities.

"The Core SMA accommodates a well-developed pedestrian network consisting of public open spaces, parks, squares, streets and footpaths," says Bode. "The status of the area and its proximity to other facilities has enticed a significant number and variety of retail, service, office and residential activities to the Core SMA.

"One of the council's main objectives for the Core SMA is to maintain the highest intensity of activity in the Central Area emphasising commercial, entertainment, recreational, cultural, educational, retail, residential and tourist activities. This is in order to ensure the continuation of the Central Area as the principal business and commercial centre of the Auckland region and to achieve vitality, while managing the adverse effects of activities on each other, on public spaces and on the environment."

The property occupies a strategic site within one of the Auckland region's major retail precincts, where high-end fashion retailers reside, surrounded by Auckland CBD's strong cafe culture.

"Its central location means it is easily reached by a number of means," Thompson says. "The adjacent Queen St is easily accessible via the Northern, Southern and Northwestern Motorways, while Vulcan Lane is within walking distance to the CBD's core Britomart transport hub, Downtown railway station and ferry services.

"The property, as well as the area within which it is located, are heritage registered due to its quality and character, making them points of interest for anyone visiting Auckland's CBD," Thompson says.

The Queens Ferry Hotel was built in 1858 and granted a liquor licence on April 19, 1865, making it one of the oldest pubs in New Zealand. The hotel was named after its first publican, John Robertson, who christened it after his home town, Queens Ferry in Scotland.

The Queens Ferry became a notorious and frequent drinking spot for known criminals. In one infamous incident, the machine-gun used in the Basset Rd murder was assembled in the hotel's cellar and smuggled out wrapped in newspaper.

There still remains a small door downstairs just over half a metre in size which was used by sailors to come and go from the pub after hours.

Vulcan Lane itself is one of Auckland's earliest colonial side-streets and became a desirable location for new offices as economic activity in the city centre boomed. Numerous high-profile offices were constructed in the area, especially where the smaller lanes met major thoroughfares.

In the 1800s Vulcan Lane became headquarters for the actors, entertainers and sportsmen of Auckland as well as some licensed bookmakers.

After World War I the "Occi" was mainly patronised by commercial and professional workers, while the Queens Ferry was more of a working man's club. Females were not welcomed into either the Occidental or the Queens Ferry until after World War II.

Vulcan Lane is registered as a Historic Area under the Historic Places Act 1993. This relates to all buildings along each side of Vulcan Lane from Queen St to High St (Lower Vulcan Lane) and High St to O'Connell St (Upper Vulcan Lane).

Historic Areas are recognised as groups of related historic places, such as a geographical area with a number of properties or sites, or a cultural landscape.

Emphasis is on the significance of the group. Furthermore, Vulcan Lane is an archaeological site as it is a place associated with pre-1900 human activity.

The Historic Places Act makes it unlawful for any person to destroy, damage or modify the whole or any part of an archaeological site without the prior authority of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust.