Catalyst House presents the opportunity to retain or repurpose

A ten-storey office tower on Willis Street with ground floor retail along with ground and first floor car parking is up for sale.

Catalyst House is being marketed by exclusive agents Matthew St Amand and Rick Stace of CBRE New Zealand. The property is for sale by Deadline Private Treaty, closing 4pm on Tuesday 21st June 2017 (unless sold prior).

Rick Stace, Associate Director at CBRE Wellington, says, “Catalyst House presents an excellent opportunity to acquire a well located Wellington asset suitable for value-add refurbished office space or potential future conversion to residential accommodation.” Catalyst House is ideally located for conversion to student accommodation due to its close proximity to Victoria University’s Pipitea and Kelburn Campuses and Massey University’s Wellington Campus. Student numbers within the city continue to climb and the city is experiencing a shortage of accommodation.

Constructed in 1984, Catalyst House has a seismic rating of 70% NBS and sits on a freehold land parcel of 1,318sqm. Of note is that this building was not on the recently released list of eighty buildings required by Wellington City Council to provide a targeted damage engineers report.

The building has a gross floor area of 5,770sqm providing a net lettable area of 4,157.20sqm and is 98% occupied with a weighted average lease term (WALT) by income for the office space of 2.4 years and for the retail space of 2.9 years. The property also enjoys convenient access to the motorway.

The property is located on Willis Street at the southern edge of the Central Business District. Access is from Willis Street into a well presented entry foyer where the lifts are situated. The building provides 40 car parks, of which 12 are at ground level with the remaining 28 located on the first floor accessed via a lane along the southern boundary of the property. A small single storey building sits to the north of the site and is integrated with retail areas on the ground floor of the main building.

The property enjoys a strong tenant covenant with anchor tenant, Catalyst.Net Limited occupying 68% of the building and contributing 59% of the income generated by the property. Matthew St Amand, Managing Director of CBRE Wellington, says “With the city currently experiencing historically low CBD office vacancy, Catalyst House presents an opportunity to refurbish the building to cater for the strong demand for quality, seismically compliant, office space.” The current net income is approximately $792k (plus GST) per annum.

CBRE strongly recommends your early consideration of this outstanding investment opportunity.