Deloitte leaving 80 Queen St: Precinct Properties' deal on $200m refurbishment

Plans for One Queen Street behind the orange ferry terminal building. Photo / supplied

Precinct Properties has leased three-quarters of a hectare of floorspace to Deloitte which plans to leave the BNZ building at 80 Queen St for the ex-HSBC Tower on the waterfront.

The new premises are undergoing a $200 million refurbishment which started some months ago.

A Deloitte spokesperson said today the business had been at 80 Queen Street on the Shortland St intersection since 2010. That building is the BNZ Tower.

Precinct said it had leased levels 15 to 20 at its under-refurbishment One Queen where Deloitte had signed a 20-year lease for 7500sq m.

LT McGuinness has been working on the existing block beside the new $1b PwC Building at Commercial Bay for many months.

The Deloitte spokesperson said: "The opportunity that One Queen Street offered was one that we wished to pursue because it enabled us to reconfigure our use given a growing team, to heighten collaboration and employee experience while also providing a blank canvass to design premises more consistent with the future of work and the office of the future."

Around 800 of the financial service's 1600 staff are based in Auckland. Deloitte's lease "has been modified to expire in 2024", the spokesperson said.

Deloitte Chair Thomas Pippos and chief executive Mike Horne issued a joint statement on the move.

"The Deloitte team are excited to be relocating to One Queen Street and to be part of the wider Commercial Bay community and associated amenities. The flexibility afforded by the scale and nature of the floorplates provides an opportunity to create an exceptional work environment for our teams and clients," that statement said.

The block at 80 Queen St is owned by Sabina whose directors are Christchurch's Tim Glasson and Warren Bell. Sabina is owned by Glasson Trustee, SIG Trustee and ICG Trustee, all of Christchurch.

The BNZ is the anchor tenant in that block developed around the heritage Jean Batten Building, a base for the United States military during World War II.

"We expect to move into our new office in 2024. This office will have around the same amount of space as our current premises," the Deloitte spokesperson said.

In March, Precinct reignited plans for One Queen St.

But the revised $200m plan was more in line with pandemic conditions: the new hotel for the building is far smaller and more flexible office space will be offered to commercial tenants.

Scott Pritchard, Precinct chief executive, said in March that all the tenants had moved out.

"One Queen Street remains the primary focus for the business over the next six months," the company said then.

Previously, Precinct planned a $298m scheme to convert the building into a flagship hotel, the InterContinental Auckland, managed and operated by InterContinental Hotels Group, to occupy 11 levels with 244 guest rooms and suites, restaurant, meeting suites, health club and club lounge facilities.

But last year, Precinct said that $298m project had been indefinitely deferred.

Then in March, it was all back on. The refurbished block is to have two levels of private office suites, seven levels of office and a rooftop bar.

Precinct is trading around $1.63, giving it a market capitalisation of $2.4b.