Wellington City mulls selling land under its feet to pay for $40m office fit-out
Thursday, 1 May 2025
The first asset the Wellington City Council is looking to sell to fund its disaster kitty is the ground beneath its feet – to pay for its $40 million office fit-out and move into the office above.
The full council met on Wednesday, but kicked the public out for two public excluded matters – approval to lease the Oriental Bay band rotunda and another item titled “ground lease sale for disaster resilience fund capitalisation and council office accommodation”.
Council spokesperson Richard MacLean confirmed before the meeting a plan to sell the land under the soon-to-be-occupied Jervois Quay building to pay for the office fit-out was up for discussion. In total, the project is expected to cost $40 million.
A decision on Jervois Quay was deferred, but councillors did vote to finalise negotiations on the sale of nine council-owned sites leased to private commercial occupiers.
This money was earmarked for the council’s proposed Disaster Resilience Fund – designed to help the city recover financially after a large earthquake or other disaster – and would not used to pay down debt nor fund any Council projects, a council statement said.
Further details were deemed commercially sensitive until the sales were finalised.
The council last year tried to sell its 34% stake in Wellington Airport to set up the disaster resilience fund. The plan was derailed, taking the 10 year budget with it, as some Labour and Green councillors opposed asset sales while others on the political right were distrustful of how the council would use the money.
It set the council two predicaments – having to come up with a new 10-year (now nine-year) plan with less money to play with, while also trying to address a severe lack of insurance and corresponding need to set up the disaster fund.
The council has 72 ground leases – land it owns beneath buildings and leases to building owners – making for its biggest asset apart from the airport shares. Selling some of those was seen as a way to set up a disaster fund.
Many of the properties, including the Datacom building, are multiple parcels beneath a single building. This would be the first of its planned sales.
“The council is selling the family silver and putting its flat whites on the credit card to fund increasing expenditure,” said councillor Diane Calvert, who argued residents and businesses understood the need to properly manage risks.
“[But] the majority of council [has] been reluctant to review and rein in its own spending.”
“That should happen first. Selling land to cover running costs is a sign that we’re living beyond our means ‒ and ratepayers deserve better.”
Pukehīnau/Lambton ward councillor Iona Pannett, the only local ward councillor to respond to a request for comment, said most of the discussion about the sale should have been held in public, with only the financial aspect in public excluded.
Financial talks should be held in private to ensure the council did not show its hand and get a bad deal for ratepayers, she said.
Last May, the council confirmed it was moving from its temporary base on The Terrace to the Datacom building, with the fit-out due to be completed at the end of 2024 and staff starting to move in at the beginning of 2025. However, this was delayed until late in 2025.
The move consolidates the council into a single building, as opposed to being spread out across several sites.