Auckland’s changing CBD: Is Albert St the new Queen St?

Sunday, 3 August 2025

Auckland’s CBD often gets a bad rap, but the rejuvenation of Albert St, and the billions of dollars of investment that has gone into it tells a different story about the city and its future.

Vacant retail outlets, a maze of roadworks, and limited numbers of pedestrians have come to represent the central city scape. For many years, Albert St - where access was restricted due to work on the CRL - was the epitome of that.

But now, a walk up the street quickly reveals how things have changed.

Much, although not yet all, of the CRL works, barriers and road cones have gone. And in their place new office blocks, hotels, bars, restaurants, and shops are springing up along the freshly widened pavements.

Developers and hoteliers have invested big sums of money to construct new buildings, and repurpose existing ones on the street, and there is still more to come.

Newly opened buildings over the last 18 months include the $310 million mixed use Deloitte Centre on Lower Albert St; the $650m office block at number 50, the former home of the NZ Herald; a $250m hotel and apartment building at 51; and the $150m office block The Formery at 87.

Additionally, the extensive $35m makeover of the former Stamford Plaza at 22-26 has been completed, and the building recently relaunched as home to New Zealand’s first JW Marriott hotel.

It’s revitalising a long-overlooked street, but it also suggests the tide is turning for the midtown area, with Albert St a reflection of how things are changing.

On a tour of Precinct Properties’ Deloitte Centre, the company’s chief executive, Scott Pritchard, told the Sunday Star Times Albert St was always intended to be the ridge where a lot of high rise development took place.

“That never happened, but it is now and that mass of development is building up, and transforming the area, and it will benefit the wider city.”

While the Deloitte Centre is at One Queen St, the award-winning development sits on the block between Lower Albert and Queen streets. Its neighbour Commercial Bay, Precinct’s flagship retail and dining precinct, fills the rest of the block.

The completion of the centre marked the final stage of the $1billion Commercial Bay development. Rather than building new, the original structure was repurposed and reconfigured, and the floor plate was expanded.

It now houses the 139 room InterContinental Hotel, 14,300 sqm of office space that hosts the corporate headquarters of Deloitte and Bell Gully among other tenants, and nine food and beverage outlets, including the Queens Rooftop bar and Kemuri Hi-Fi basement bar.

The location serves as a link between Auckland’s trading past and its maritime future, while providing a central hub for workers and city visitors, and it is proving popular, Pritchard says.

Occupancy across the office space is at 100% while, since opening, the hotel has maintained a near 90% occupancy rate.

“The link to Commercial Bay and its amenities helps, but the mixed use nature of the building itself is a model growing in popularity in New Zealand in line with overseas trends,” he says.

“It is about tapping into overseas trends to help make the Auckland CBD an attractive place to visit, and to attract more people back to it.”

Tackling the perception the area is not safe plays a part in that, but that is happening, with recent statistics showing crime in the CBD has dropped significantly, he says.

“Many people don’t realise the extent of the development that’s been done around the waterfront and in this area. But they should because the city is becoming a very different place.”

Pritchard is a firm believer in the area’s potential, and evidence of that can be seen in another Precinct development nearby. Construction on the Downtown Carpark development, a two tower mixed commercial and residential precinct, is expected to start in 2026.

Luke Condon, who is vice president investments at Quattro Alberts, is another developer who is bullish on Albert St and the midtown area, and has the buildings to prove it.

Quattro Alberts is an Auckland division of Sydney-based Quattro Group. It buys B-grade office buildings, upgrades them, and then leases out flexible, serviced office suites complemented by shared amenities, lifestyle facilities, and a membership network.

Their model is unique - not just to New Zealand but to Australia, and even globally, Condon says.

“Auckland is the testing ground for it. Our first Auckland building at One Albert St was the start-up, it’s been a success, and now we are expanding on that proof of concept.”

One Albert is the refurbished 18-storey, 1970s modernist building formerly known as West Plaza on the street’s intersection with Customs St. Opened in 2022, the overhauled building has won awards, and is fully occupied.

Quattro followed it with another development up the road. The Formery is three interlinked buildings, with number 87 as the frontage. It has 14,500sqm of office space, plus membership facilities, and event space for hire. It opened last year, and is about 90% leased.

Earlier this month, Quattro announced it had bought four connected buildings, including the city’s former Finance Centre, on the Victoria St West block beside the street’s intersection with Albert St.

The buildings will be turned into an office precinct called The Exchange with 19,250sqm of lettable space, a revitalised retail offering anchored by Woolworths, and various Alberts club features. On completion it will be valued at more than $230m.

Condon says it will be the company’s boldest step toward reshaping the midtown district, and its proximity to the CRL will tap into the coming demand for well-designed workspace in the area.

Quattro’s model involves investing in good areas with potential for future reinvigoration and growth, and Albert St’s location has that promise, he says.

“Our developments’ success contribute to an area’s revitalisation by attracting more people back to the office, and more people in the CBD supports new and existing retail and hospitality businesses, and drives more life.

“We’re proud to be playing a part in that, and we can see what Albert St is becoming. People don’t realise how much it has to offer, but it’s very different to the out-of-bounds street it was for so-many years.”

For Heart of the City chief executive Viv Beck, it is a joy to watch the street slowly coming back to life after nearly a decade of construction. When Spark moved its headquarters into 50 Albert she noticed a significant change, and now it is getting steadily busier, she says.

“But for existing businesses on the street long-term the process has been brutal. Many have closed down, and it’s difficult to put into words how tough it’s been for them, not only financially, but health-wise.

“The price they've paid for progress is extraordinary, and the sacrifices they’ve made must be acknowledged. And, unfortunately, it’s not over for some as work on the stretch along from Victoria St is ongoing.”

Light is at the end of the tunnel, so she hopes their perseverance pays off, and they can make it through to see the benefits from the completion of the CRL and the NZ International Convention Centre.

“Those completions, along with the development being done will fundamentally change the central city.

“A lot of thought has gone into the work, and such things as mixed-use buildings and laneways have, internationally, been shown to create the sort of environment people want to live, work and play in.”

There is lots of positive work happening, and it is creating nicer, more connected spaces people will enjoy, Beck says, but she wants to see more ongoing work on transport, infrastructure and events.

“And we need to think how best to capitalise all this work to grow and differentiate the city internationally, so we attract more investment and business, and more people, including tourists, and international students.”

Crime in the CBD has reduced since it peaked in 2023, there are more police on the street and a permanent police station has opened, she adds.

“There is more work to do, but the situation has significantly improved, and it’s contributing to a more optimistic outlook generally.

“It’s still a difficult economy and challenging for businesses, but we see some pockets of positivity, and that includes Albert St starting to come together, and people, including tourists, gravitating towards it.”

Despite all the work done to date, there is more to come for Albert St and its surrounds.

A new DoubleTree by Hilton hotel, which will be next to The Exchange, is planned, and at the end of the street, on the corner of Wyndham and Mayoral Drive, the $650m Symphony Centre is set to rise.

The 21-storey mixed residential and commercial “vertical village” will sit above the CRL’s Te Waihorotiu station, which is expected to become the country’s busiest train station with an estimated 54,000 passengers streaming through it daily.

Close by is the long-delayed convention centre. It is now set to officially open for business in February next year, and has already received bookings through to 2033.

Matthew Simister is general manager of Hotel Indigo, the new hotel and residential tower at 51 Albert St. He says the hotel and its restaurant, Bistro Saine, will benefit from the convention centre, but that they have gone from strength to strength since opening in December and April respectively.

Now the CRL works have finished along much of the street and more tenants are moving into the area, the general vibe has improved and foot traffic to the bistro is solid, he says.

“We’re desperate to get our new bar and cafe offerings finished later this year to tap into the workers who have returned to offices, such as Spark, and we’re excited to see where the potential of the street leads.”

With some big events coming up, such as Metallica in November and SailGP in February, hotel demand is strong, and Simister is optimistic it will continue to grow as people realise how much is now on offer in the CBD’s midtown.