Another Wellington office block to be redeveloped into student hostel

Friday, 2 February 2018

ComSmart House, in Boulcott St, was sold off-market to Cassels for just over $3 million.

High profile property developer Ian Cassels has bought a multi-storey office block in central Wellington to convert it into student accommodation.

The Wellington Company managing director bought the 2500-square-metre building on Boulcott St for just over $3 million.

The five-storey building, known as ComSmart House, is fitted out with offices, however it will eventually be converted into student accommodation.

Cassels said ComSmart House would not be the last building converted for student use in Wellington.

**READ MORE:

The Wellington Company managing director Ian Cassels says converting surplus office buildings is one of the few effective ways to help with the student housing crisis.

* Student allowance boost blamed for rent spikes

* Council asks developers to convert inner-city buildings

* Empty Willis St offices to become Wellington's latest student hostel in 2017**

'The situation's clearly quite desperate, with students who'd rather study in Wellington, having to relocated to Palmerston North and Hamilton,' he said.

* We'd love to hear your story - good or bad - about the rental market and what issues you think we need to explore. Email us at newstips@stuff.co.nz

Rising inner city property prices demanded a return on investment, which simple made flats unaffordable for students, Cassels said.

'We saw this coming years ago and realised that converting surplus office buildings was one of the few workable solutions.'

The latest acquisition for The Wellington Company adjoins the former Conservation House of 4400 square metres, also bought for student accommodation and syndicated to investors in 2012.

Gollins Commercial principal Chis Gollins, who negotiated the off-market sale, said the decision to convert the 1980s building was part of a growing trend of turning former office buildings into accommodation for students enrolled at Victoria and Massey universities.

One of the latest conversions was the TelTower on Willis St. Construction firm McKee Fehl, which is owned by Wellington engineer and property developer Maurice Clark, completed the transformation in 2017 marking it the company's fourth building over the past five years to be converted to student accommodation.

TelTower, plus the three other projects, increased the total number of rooms available to students to 1130.

Despite this, thousands of university students are still struggling to find places to live before class start next month.

The likely growth in students taking advantage of the Goverment's new first-year fees-free arrangement is expected to compound the city's worst rental crisis.

Flat hunters' fears that a room in the capital could cost $200 per week were supported by data from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment showing average rents of $482 per property last month.

Wellington students were competing with young professionals and families priced out of home ownership for 71 per cent fewer rental properties than in 2016, according to Trade Me figures.