Jewel in the crown of Queen St

Surrounded by banks, JNJ House features a six-level mix of retail, office and residential tenants. Photo / Supplied

JNJ House, an ornate six-level Queen St commercial character building, is being marketed as "probably the best retail building in Auckland today" with a high pedestrian count out front and tenant risk spread across retail, office and residential tenancies.

The building at 75 Queen St was constructed around 1915 and is in a prime lower Queen St retail location near Downtown shopping centre and central rail terminus with a steadily increasing pedestrian count in line with large-scale developments in the vicinity.

A Property Institute of New Zealand pedestrian count shows the number of adult pedestrians passing in front of the building increased in four years from 1236 in 2005 to 1477 last year.

"JNJ House is surrounded by high-rise bank buildings in a prime, lower Queen St retail location on the west side and north end of Queen St about 75m south of the busy Queen St and Customs St intersection," says Grant Hargrave of Barfoot & Thompson Commercial who has a sole agency on the building.

"This places it close to the Downtown shopping centre, the Britomart bus terminal, the harbour ferries building and the Britomart rail station - which has achieved average annual passenger growth of 10 per cent per annum in recent years.

"As a result, there is a steady flow of commuter traffic across the frontage of the building.

"It also benefits from visiting cruise ship passengers with this market experiencing phenomenal growth and discussions in progress for a potential $100 million development of Queens Wharf.

"There are very few places in New Zealand where retailers can claim continuing growth in both pedestrian and traffic count outside their buildings but this is one," Hargrave says.

"The pedestrian count for this area has grown by 10 per cent annually and the vehicle traffic count on Queen St is also steadily increasing.

A good sign of the demand for retail space, he says, is the number of banks nearby, including the National Bank at 45 Queen St and Westpac at 79 Queen St, as well the new Bank of New Zealand branch in the Deloitte Centre at 80 Queen St, which opened this month, and is the city's first five-star green-rated tower building in the CBD.

"Surrounding properties comprise a mixture of medium to high-rise buildings with street-level retail, office and some residential accommodation above.

"Consequently, it is a sought after location with strong demand for ground floor retail space.

"In recent years there has been a northerly shift in retailing and commercial uses towards Auckland's waterfront," Hargrave says.

JNJ House has a frontage of around 27m to Queen St and 26m to Mills Lane at the rear of the building.

A number of international brand tenants have located close by including Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Oakley. Nearby Downtown House at 21 Queen St has also been upgraded and refurbished by AMP Office Trust.

In addition to its ground-floor retail, the mixed-use zoned building on a freehold site of 986sq m has three levels of office accommodation and two upper levels of residential apartments with a net lettable area of 5421sq m.

The site has a basic floor area ratio of six to one and a maximum floor area ratio of 13:1.

"The spread of tenancies across retail, office and residential reduces the investment risk considerably because the building's purchaser doesn't have to rely on one tenant sector," Hargrave says.

"For example, if the CBD market was hit by high office vacancies, the owner wouldn't be reliant on that one sector for income."

The building's tenancy schedule shows nearly $1.25 million gross rental comes from retail tenants - more than $375,000 comes from office tenants; more than $100,000 is from signage, naming rights and car parking; and more than $200,000 is generated by residential apartments.

"Of the net annual income of just under $1,868,000 about 66 per cent of the income is generated from the street-level retail tenants," Hargrave says.

A long-established tenant is menswear store Rodd & Gunn. Others include souvenir retailers Travel Memories and From N to Z; Pandoro specialised bakery; Miss & Mr Hair Salon, New Mart, PowerHealth, Global Kitchen and internet Cafe.

Part of the second level is occupied by JNJ, an Australasian property company.

With the sale of the building, naming rights are available.

The building provides 12 parking spaces with most spaces stacked.

Parking is at the rear on Levels 1 and 2 and is accessed from Mills Lane which runs along the rear of the property.

The building was originally known as The Winstone Building and has undergone several name changes.

It is classified as a Category B heritage building under the district plan which protects the shell of the building with any work or changes to the exterior or facade requiring resource consent.

The building features extensive decorative plasterwork to the upper levels, native timber floors, exposed beamed ceilings and protruding balconies and arch windows.

"The interior is not protected so this can be updated as required," Hargrave says.

JNJ House was extensively upgraded and re-wired with new lighting and air-conditioning during the 1980s with more recent upgrades since including new entries and shop fronts for retail areas fronting Queen St.

A central entranceway leads through to the main lobby and provides access to several other retail shops at ground and basement level. The building is serviced by two Schindler lifts which travel from the ground floor to level 5.

A central light well area is adjacent to the lift well and provides additional natural light to the ground floor lift lobby and the floors above.