Sir Bob Jones purchases his 18th prime office building in Wellington's CBD

Tuesday, 2 July 2019

New Zealand property tycoon, Sir Robert Jones, has bought his 18th prime office building in Wellington's CBD with the purchase of Civic Assurance House for an undisclosed sum

Robt. Jones Holdings, owned by Sir Robert, has bought the 10-level, recently strengthened building on Wellington's premier retail strip at 116 Lambton Quay from Civic Financial Services.

RJH signalled a facelift for the building, including large new windows, air conditioning, and free artwork for the occupants.

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RJH was formed in 1961 and says it is New Zealand's largest private office building owner with about 900 tenancies in Wellington, Auckland, Sydney and Glasgow. Its assets are worth more than $2 billion, the company says.

The company was wavering on the unusual facade pattern, white with grey squares, and would probably repaint it, RJH Wellington general manager Aaron Leech said.

'Its location is a key attraction for us, with its appeal to the legal profession, embassies and other diverse activities,' he said.

The building was strengthened in April to 70 per cent of the New Building Standard (NBS). Leech said the company was comfortable with 70 per cent when asked if they would strengthen further.

The deal was negotiated by Hamish Templeton and Richard Findlay of Colliers International in Wellington.

Lambton Quay was tightly held, where buildings rarely came up for sale, Templeton said. The building was close to the government sector, the courts and public transport, particularly the Wellington Railway Station.

Office vacancies were their lowest in years and there had been a shift to the northern end of the CBD, Templeton said.

Civic has owned the building since it was built in 1967. It was first known as the Local Government Building before changing its name to Civic Assurance House in 2007.

Civic is owned by local government and supplies it with a range of financial services.

Its chief executive Ian Brown said the company's focus no longer required it to hold any commercial property.

He said it was pleasing to sell to a new owner with a long history in Wellington's commercial real estate market and with a reputation for taking a long-view of ownership and care of its properties.