KEY POINTS:
Number 9 High St is a typical Billy Boyd property - a classic, older, six-level building constructed around 1920 that has been refurbished into high-quality office accommodation.
"Restoring older Auckland city buildings is my passion," says Boyd, a practising barrister located in one of his own restored city character buildings at nearby 23 O'Connell St.
"I get a real kick out of buying a run-down historic building and restoring it to its former glory along with full-on modern amenities and services."
Number 9 High St, which is to be auctioned through Bayleys agent Bruce Whillans at Bayleys Real Estate offices in Maritime Square at 2pm on April 30, is being marketed as a "classic trophy building centrally located in the cosmopolitan heart of the Auckland CBD".
Whillans says the property is on the western side of High St, just below Vulcan Lane, and positioned in the very centre of the high fashion retail shopping precinct.
The building, with a net lettable area of 818.63sq m net (1164sq m gross), is on a freehold site of 126sq m and was bought by Boyd and two partners in 1997.
"Subsequently it underwent a major refurbishment and has since been maintained to a high standard through a strict ongoing maintenance programme," Whillans says.
"The office tenancies have all been fully refurbished and feature timber-strip flooring with upgraded lighting, a sophisticated fire sprinkler system and painted internal walls.
"Fully leased and centrally located halfway between the High Court and District Court, the building has proven to be very popular with barristers and solicitors, who occupy most of the tenancies."
The ground retail level and level one are leased to Mortimer Hirst Optometrists with a further basement retail area leased to fashion recycler Emporio U.
Whillans says the building has further development potential due to the concrete roof and the lift running through to that level.
"This presents an opportunity to add a lightweight, mansard-styled structure, creating an attractive office suite or studio apartment that would further enhance the property's current rental annual income of more than $293,000 net."
Number 9 High St is yet another "reluctant sale" for Boyd, who trades as Empire Properties - a name taken from the Empire Tavern on the corner of Nelson and Victoria Sts which he has owned for 20 years.
"I'm a long-term holder and not someone who renovates buildings to on-sell them once they're tenanted," Boyd says.
"If I ever sell anything, it's always an exchange of investment in one property for the opportunity to do something bigger and better with another property."
Boyd says his attraction to historic and classical buildings and his desire to restore them "as a thing of beauty" might appear to be a handicap from a purely financial aspect.
"From a dollars and cents viewpoint it is easy to get carried away with some of these projects and especially when you are in love with the building. But if something about the restoration isn't quite right, I'll change it to make it right even though the economics don't stack up.
"I've found that in the long run, the additional expenditure does make sense because the quality remains long after the bills have been paid.
"In addition, I get a much greater degree of satisfaction from having completed a really good job."
Boyd bought his first property when he was 23, starting with residential properties and quickly graduating to small commercial properties like shops.
As his capital grew he was able to invest in larger properties.
"What I like to do is to find an interesting building that's lost and forlorn that will benefit from some value added investment and attention," Boyd says.
"Normally, when I find a building like this they don't have very good tenancies. Often this is because the owners have let the maintenance standards drop and property maintenance - like rust - never sleeps."
Boyd says he employs a maintenance team led by a full-time property maintenance manager who checks on all his buildings every morning.
He points to his website www.empireproperties.co.nz which contains his personal mission statement: "Empire properties has a dedicated team of professionals who manage, maintain and care for each of its buildings and prides itself in being proactive rather than reactive.
"Our point of difference is the philosophy that all tenants are customers and should be treated as such."
Boyd says his reason for selling Number 9 High Street is that it is the last partnership asset in his portfolio.
The building is owned by Boyd, Don Fletcher and Maurice Crosby, who formed a partnership in 1993 that owned the Iguacu Restaurant in Parnell.
"As restaurant owners in the hospitality business, we started looking for alternative investments and this building was an adjunct to our ownership of Iguacu - representing a diversification into property," Boyd explains.
He says that running a restaurant created the philosophy he now has of "caring for the customers". Instead of adopting the traditional and adversarial "tenant v landlord stance", he preferred an active and consultative approach.
"Unfortunately a lot of landlords take a 'them and us' approach to property ownership. On the other hand I have tenants who have been with me for 10, 12 and more years and over that period of time our relationships have become partnerships.
"As a result, I've got a queue of people waiting for space."
Whillans, who sold the refurbished 1920s, five-level Victoria House last year for Boyd and his partners for $6.5 million, confirms the success of Boyd's modus operandi, stating that he has never met an unhappy tenant in an Empire Properties building.
"He has an especially strong following among barristers and solicitors who chase him around from building to building when they are looking for new offices because they know he looks after them well."
Whillans says there is also a trend among smaller professional businesses away from office high rises and into smaller character buildings.
"The tenants like the idea of being able to come in off the street and run up a couple of flights of stairs instead of having to stand in a queue in the lobby waiting for a lift.
"There's also a flight to safety at the moment. People see these types of buildings as a good solid and long-standing investment in a bricks and mortar property where their money will be safe in good times or bad."
Of the buildings that Boyd has purchased and refurbished, he says he is particularly proud of Princes Chambers in Princes St, not far from the High Court.
"That's a wonderful and beautiful building which I sold very reluctantly last year because the work I put into renovating it was a labour of love."
However, the building he loves the best is the Empire Tavern because he has owned it for two decades and "because that's how Empire Properties started".
Whillans can recall driving past the Empire Tavern 15 years ago and seeing Boyd outside - hosing down the walls himself and affectionately scrubbing them
"Billy has regular monthly and quarterly washing down programme for all his buildings," Whillans says.
"This not only reduces the need for expensive painting contracts and the attendant cost of scaffolding, but it's a pride of ownership thing."
