Queens Arcade to turn into multimillion-dollar luxury retail precinct
Tuesday, 17 February 2026
Auckland’s lower Queen Street is turning into a hub for luxury retail, with yet another property developer announcing a multimillion-dollar renovation.
Queens Arcade is set for a complete makeover, with construction beginning on April 1 and scheduled to finish in November, ahead of the Christmas season.
The Davis family, who have owned Queens Arcade for 97 years, will spend more than $5 million to overhaul and turn the two-level historic site into a boutique luxury retail precinct.
A currently undisclosed major New Zealand-owned luxury retailer, although widely believed to be Partridge Jewellers, has signed on as the anchor tenant for the complex, which will be home to about 35 retailers and draw inspiration from arcades in Melbourne, Paris and Milan.
Read more:
Faradays’ $30 million Queen Street department store under way
Retail spending rises 0.6% despite ‘sobering’ rise in unemployment
The leasing programme for Queens Arcade - expected to begin soon - will be a mix of international and local high end luxury retailers and brands, said director of Davis Family Properties Michael Holden, whose mother is the niece of Sir Ernest Davis, a former Mayor of Auckland and one of the founding members of the family business.
Holden said the refurbishment would be a complete revamp of the site, not just a cosmetic upgrade, and would be “a positive retail environment” to be enjoyed for decades to come.
The model for the property is a premium, service-led tenancy mix and appointment shopping, rather than high-volume mall retail, he said.
The ground floor will be dedicated to retail, while the level above is expected to evolve into a complementary health and wellbeing hub.
Like high-end department store Faradays — set to open across the road on Queen St around the same time as Queens Arcade — the development is positioning itself as a premium offering that will “appeal to everyone”.
“What we'll find is with our refurbishment, the retailer mix will benefit from all the other quality retailers within that precinct,” Holden told The Post.
This will be the third revamp in the building’s 97‑year history; the last was in 1981.
The refurbishment would bring Queens Arcade into the 21st Century, and appeal to shoppers again, Holden said.
“It will provide a good shopping arena for the area that it is within.”
Holden believed lower Queen St with its growing luxury brand footprint was emerging as an area with the highest quality of shopping in the country.
Retailers such as Bulgari, Prada, Gucci, Coach and Van Cleef & Arpels call lower Queen St home, and more big labels are due to set up shop this year, including Cartier, which will open its first New Zealand store at 66 Queen Street.
Queen Stand the wider Auckland city centre were on track to bounce back “fairly quickly”, Holden said, following years of retail closures and reduced foot traffic, stemming from disruption from the pandemic and ongoing CRL construction.
He said the opportunity was exciting — both because it involved redeveloping and repositioning the arcade within that part of the market, and because it represented a new feature and investment for Auckland.
Holden acknowledged the economic conditions and that many consumers’ finances were stretched - putting discretionary shopping on the backburner for many. However, he said that would not impact immediate forecasts or any plans for the site.
“The general economy in New Zealand will improve over time, and we've just got to look long term, not short term … that's where our investment will pay and the asset will be of benefit to Aucklanders.”
Sir Ernest Davis is one of the founder family members of the trust. He was formerly Mayor of Auckland for a number of years, and he and his family gifted Browns Island to Auckland, as well as the Tiritiri Matangi lighthouse and the Mission Bay fountain. They are big supporters of Auckland through various philanthropic endeavours.
Retail expert Chris Wilkinson, managing director of First Retail Group, said lower Queen St was fast becoming a luxury retail hub on par with those in international cities.
Queens Arcade would appeal to many brands as it would offer smaller to medium-sized retail spaces - not so typical to usual tenancies on Queen St.
“Having both Faradays and Queens Arcade there, there's a beautiful marriage there,” Wilkinson said.
Conditions in retail were stabilising, and Wilkinson believed that come the end of the year retail would be back in growth.
“We've seen those international visitors coming back, and let's not forget that international visitors in our Asian market are a big part of that luxury aspect. It's taken time … but we know that places like Queenstown are really benefiting now.”
Wilkinson said lower Queen St and Auckland city centre, towards the waterfront area, was an ideal place for the luxury retail sector to base itself.
“That area is a powerhouse. Firstly you've got the cluster of luxury, then you've got the cluster of other more general retail, but in a great experience through Commercial Bay and Britomart, so it all plays in really well together. Then further up Queen St, you've got that younger, more hip stuff, like JB HiFi and all the streetwear retailers, so Queen St is evolving in an exciting and strategic way because of these clusters and the synergistic-type dynamics that are going on.”
Heart of the City chief executive Viv Beck said the Queens Arcade redevelopment would lift the city centre at exactly the right time, and when major public infrastructure for the City Rail Link (CRL) neared completion.
The investment for the redevelopment was “a real vote of confidence” in lower Queen St as a luxury precinct.
“Heritage is what gives the city its character and investment like this has flow-on effects – it attracts more people, gives reason to stay longer and encourages other businesses that complement the offer,” Beck said.
“Queens Arcade strengthens the area by giving people new and different reasons to visit - and that’s what shifts the dial.”
She said the CRL would make it easier and faster for Aucklanders to access the city centre, and the recent opening of the International Convention Centre would bring steady event-driven foot traffic and more international visitors.