$25m to give city railway station a new lease of life

By PAM GRAHAM

The Government is spending $25 million to buy back and refurbish Wellington railway station.

It will be used by Victoria University, Tranz Rail and the new Government rail track-owning company.

The Government is paying $8 million plus GST for the building, $12.5 million to refurbish it, $2 million for maintenance over three to five years and $2.1 million to relocate Tranz Rail while the renovations are done.

Access to the station's nine platforms and ground floor concourse will continue under an existing core lease, and new tenants in the upper floors will pay rent at market rates.

The station is no longer used for freight, and Tranz Rail is trying to sell its passenger businesses.

Completed in 1937, the station was the first major Government building constructed after the Napier earthquake.

It has a steel frame, a brick facade and a boardroom with a curved ceiling shaped like a rail carriage.

It was in need of refurbishment and had vacant space after Tranz Rail moved its head office to a leased building on Auckland's north shore.

The sale was one of many stalled asset sales being negotiated by Tranz Rail before it became the subject to a takeover offer by Toll Holdings which closes on Friday.