John Chow, left, and Michael Chow are selling Westpac House after strengthening and redeveloping the property.SUPPLIED

John Chow, left, and Michael Chow are selling Westpac House after strengthening and redeveloping the property.

The Chow brothers have put their Wellington high-rise, Westpac House, on the market.

Chow’s Chow Group Management bought the prominent Lambton Quay building for $26 million in 2010.

The property has a rateable value of $34 million, according to QV.

Westpac House on Lambton Quay is being sold by the Chow Group Management. 

The building commands a prime spot on Wellington’s retail ‘Golden Mile’..

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Built in 1974, the 18-storey building was originally the New Zealand headquarters of Westpac which moved to Auckland in 2002.

CBRE senior director Bill Leckie said the redevelopment of the ground floor was a major change to the traditional bank branch and created an “ultra modern” new lobby for the office tower.

Westpac’s main Wellington branch is on the ground floor.

An “urban hub” of modern shared office space for short-term occupants across three floors was opened last year.

The hub includes 80 serviced offices suitable for businesses with up to 10 staff.

Michael Chow said it was the “perfect time” to sell the building to release funds for new investments and expand Inno Capital, a property finance company the brothers started with Webber Capital founder Clint Webber.

The building was refurbished and seismically strengthened to 100 per cent new building standard in 2013.

The building net lettable area of 9698 square metres is fully leased, earning rental income of about $4.8m plus GST a year, according to a property memorandum supplied by CBRE.

Westpac bank has a 12-year lease on the building’s top floors until 2027.

The bank has the right to surrender seven of the 10 floors in 2021, and further right of renewal.

Westpac pays $3.5m in rent a year, while Statistics New Zealand Stats pays $1.8m a year for three floors.

Statistics took a two-year lease with a two-year right of renewal for three floors after Statistics House partially collapsed in the November 7.8-magnitude earthquake.

Three floors of the Westpac building on Lambton Quay offer shared office space.SUPPLIED

Three floors of the Westpac building on Lambton Quay offer shared office space.

The government department  also leased five floors in HP House on Gilmer Terrace, directly behind Westpac House.

Statistics spokesman James Weir said the department was steadily moving more staff out of Westpac House and into HP House.

Designgroup Stapletton Elliot and the Ministry of Transport also lease offices in the Westpac House.

The Chow brothers bought the building from Australian-based National Mutual Funds Management, which bought the property and Grant Thornton House across the road for $136m in 2007.

In the wake of the Kaikoura earthquake the Wellington office property market vacancy rates have reached a six-year low as thousands of office workers were relocated due to building damage.

Michael Chow said there was a shortage of between 50,000 and 60,000sqm of office space in Wellington after the earthquake.

CBRE said demand for Grade A buildings had also increased..

CBRE Wellington managing director Matthew St Amand said low interest rates, low exchange rate and shortage of “prime CBD seismically compliant office space” put Westpac House in a good position to attract both local and international investors.

The Chow brothers have an estimated asset value over $400m, with a property portfolio that includes The Mermaid strip club and the Capital Market food court.

The sale of Westpac house by Deadline Private Treaty closes on May 31.


– Stuff