The refurbished 11 level building in Ellerlsie has commercial office space to lease.
The refurbished 11 level building in Ellerlsie has commercial office space to lease.
A landmark tower block adjoining Auckland's southern motorway at Ellerslie and previously known as the James & Wells building has had a major makeover and is now available for leasing.
"The results of the refurbishment speak for themselves," says Vanessa Coles, commercial leasing agent with Barfoot & Thompson Commercial who, with David Campbell of CBRE, is seeking tenants for 56 Cawley St.
"The refurbishment adds about 600 square metres of lettable area to the building including a new top floor with stunning 360 degree views of Auckland," Coles says. "Externally the building has a new contemporary style and colour scheme."
The office tower was originally constructed in the mid 1980s and at one stage accommodated the offices of Auckland City Council. More recently it was occupied by patent law firm James & Wells which displayed prominent signage on the upper floors of the former red and black building that was clearly visible from the nearby State Highway 1 motorway.
Coles says design and construction company, Indesco undertook a building survey and redevelopment feasibility study on the building culminating with the purchase of the building in 2014 by SPI (Sustainable Property Investments Ltd Partnership).
"As with many buildings of this era, while being well constructed it had a list of deferred maintenance issues and a dated appearance when compared to newer developments and this had contributed to lower occupancy levels in recent times," Coles says. "SPI commissioned Indesco to add a full penthouse level to the top of the existing building, modernise the building to make it attractive to existing and new tenants and to rectify a long list of maintenance items.
"The completed major renovation brings the building up to a high quality standard with exterior work including upgrading window seals, cladding and roofing to ensure long term weather durability along with giving the building a new look colour scheme."
Extensive interior work encompassed replacing the entire air conditioning system throughout the building with the latest energy efficient equipment, upgrading the main switchboard and electrical distribution; CCTV system, access control system, alarm monitoring and security systems with the digital best practice equipment.
The lobby has similarly been installed with upgraded acoustics, modern art, furniture and LED lighting while the grounds have been fully landscaped with an improved traffic flow around building.
The property now comprises an 11 level office building with a net lettable area of 5527 sq m with basement and podium parking for 162 cars and the possibility of additional car parks on neighbouring motorway land being explored.
Campbell says naming rights are still available with the building having a very high profile to the southern motorway.
The building's seismic Initial Evaluation Process (IEP) gives it a grade of 185 per cent of new building standard (NBS) meaning it has a low earthquake risk.
Tenants who already occupy the building include Indesco Ltd, Sanofi Aventis NZ Ltd, Halberg Disability Foundation and Aztec Information Services (NZ).
Campbell says two recently upgraded Kone lifts service the lobby to the upper levels with a central stairwell located within the central core.
David Campbell of CBRE.
The ground floor of the building consists of a single and available 360 sq m tenancy accessed directly off the lobby while Levels 3 and 4 have larger floors of over 600 sq m.
Level 4 of 623 sq m is already fully leased while Level 3 has two vacant tenancies. "These are about 180 sq m and 250 sq m respectively or they could easily be combined to provide a larger tenancy of around 430 sq m," Campbell says.
Levels 5 to 9 are each 567 sq m with Level 5 having a part floor tenancy still available of 235.77 sq m while all the floor space on Levels 6, 7 and 9 is still to be tenanted. Level 8 is already fully leased.
Coles says Level 11 is accessed from Level 10 via a staircase and a single floor lift. "Hence these two levels are best suited to a single tenant requiring approximately 1000 sq m," she says. "Alternatively, a significant tenant occupying the upper Levels 9, 10 and 11 would occupy total space of about 1600 sq m and have outstanding 360 degree views over Auckland."
Campbell says Levels 2-5 are "presented as modern" while the vacant space on levels 3, 5 and 9 will be upgraded as required to meet tenant demand.
"Level 6 has undergone full refurbishment and is currently the show floor for the building and Level 7 has been stripped ready to refurbish."
Coles says the building is located in the popular Southern Corridor office precinct and has excellent motorway access to the Auckland CBD 10 km away from the nearby Ellerslie-Panmure round-about. "It is just 18 km from Auckland airport and is a short walking distance to excellent train and bus services. The local Ellerslie retail area is a five minute walk away with numerous stores, cafes and restaurants."
