With due process now complete, the shuttered former Auckland Central Police Station on the corner of Vincent and Cook Streets in the Auckland CBD is for sale on the open market.
Purpose-built in the late-1960s for police, the property was the main Auckland police station and the district command centre for 51 years before police operations for the central city relocated to a more modern, fit-for-purpose operational facility in College Hill, Freemans Bay.
Frontline staff moved into those new premises in September 2019, with the building in Vincent Street now vacant. Its designation as a police station has been removed and the building is deemed surplus to government property requirements.
Having been through the requisite Crown-owned land disposal process, the land and buildings at 67 -101 Vincent Street, Auckland Central are for sale via an international tender campaign with Bayleys closing Thursday 5 December, and will not be sold prior. The sales campaign is being managed by Mike Adams, Layne Harwood, and Paula Bennett of Bayleys Auckland Central. The expansive 4,580sqm (more or less) freehold standalone corner site has road frontage to Vincent, Cook and Hobson Streets, providing triple access points.
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The existing improvements have a total floor area of approximately 12,567sqm and include an eleven-level office tower, workshops, a decommissioned custody unit, extensive basement spaces including parking, and other amenities associated with an operational building of this nature.
An initial evaluation procedure (IEP) has established that the building is at 71-percent new building standard.
The property is zoned Business-City Centre, a favoured zoning that allows for a wide range of uses, subject to consent.
"The immediate area is undergoing significant revitalisation largely off the back of the City Rail Link (CRL) project which in Midtown is centred on the new Te Waihorotiu railway station, with access points on Wellesley Street at the corner of Mayoral Drive, and Victoria Street," says Adams.
"Te Waihorotiu is expected to become the busiest rail station in New Zealand when opened and we ve seen a strong private development response in the neighbourhood, building on the existing mix of residential apartments, commercial office and hotel accommodation.
"The Vincent Street property is strategically-positioned to leverage the improved public transport network connections in the area, is in easy walking distance of Queen Street, the Aotea Arts Quarter and the SkyCity precinct, and has favourable motorway and arterial access."
Adams expects interest from developers, owner-occupiers, and add-value buyers and says there are few sites in the Midtown area that can offer the scale and visibility of this offering.
"There's tangible evidence of urban regeneration in the Midtown area with the heritage-listed Bledisloe House undergoing refurbishment and the 21-level Symphony Centre being built over Te Waihorotiu Station. Nearby is the soon-to-be opened NZ International Convention Centre and Horizon by SkyCity, Auckland's new 5-star hotel.
"Transit-aligned developments are seen globally in major metropolitan centres and the issue is always finding appropriate developable sites.
"In this context, the former Auckland police station building on almost half a hectare of land presents a compelling development opportunity."
- Supplied by Bayleys
