Windfall for City

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 653, 3 May 1929, Page 8

Windfall for City

Leases Expire: No Compensation

A VALUABLE block of buil Street tv ill shortly fall iir City Council without any payments. Victoria Arcade, extendi] Fort Street, has an interestin early life. ( kRIGINAI.LY built as an arcade in the years ISS4-87, the buildings now occupying the block from Shortland Street to Port Street and extending in depth from Queen Street to the old post office, came too soon into the business life of Auckland. Farsighted and enterprising citizens were concerned with their erection, but it was not until about 1910 that the large suites of offices and shops became anything like a payable proposition. The land upon which this structure stands was leased from the city in two lots in 1883 by the New Zealand Insurance Company, purely as a speculative move. At the same time the Bank of New Zealand invested in the Palmerston Buildings for a similar purpose. When the lease was signed for 50 years, the Shortland Street corner was occupied by an ironmongery shop conducted by Mr. P. A. Philips, the second Mayor of Auckland, and on the top floor of his shop the New Zealand Insurance Company carried on its Auckland business. SYNDICATE TAKES OVER When, in ISS4, the old stores were pulled down and the up-to-date arcade erected, the insurance company did not oceups its then palatial precincts, but removed opposite to the site where the new eight-storeyed building now serves the head office and branch requirements. Only once—when the new stone building was going up in 1917—did the company occupy one floor of Victoria Arcade for its head office business and then only as a temporary expedient. Victoria Arcade, itself, though its corridors are sometimes not inviting to the seeker of brightness and comfort, is in reality a well-lighted and conveniently-arranged building above the ground floor. It at least possesses the distinction of being moulded in the best bricks ever imported to this country, and of operating perhaps the fastest lift in this city. More than oue nervous woman has rested a palpitating heart after

dings in the centre of Queen to the hands of the Auckland provision for compensation ng from Shortland Street to lg association with the city's descending three floors in the circular electric elevator —a machine which is reputed even to-day to he one of the most efficient in Auckland. Many men, too, pause a while in the corridor to recover breath when the lift stops. The annual rental collected by the city 3vas £2,800. When the lease expires in 1933, however, the value of the property will be several times that of 50 years ago, and will comprise one of the most valuable of city endowments. At the end of 1920 the remaining interest in the lease was sold by the insurance company for £30,000 to a syndicate, which has been controlling the letting of the offices and shops since that date. It is expected that when the city takes over the block it will continue renting the premises on a weekly tenancy as it is doing with Gladstone Buildings at the present time. CIVIC SQUARE LEASES No definite policy has been established by the City Council in respect to procedure when buildings fall into its hands, without compensation, but a continuance of the ■weekly tenancy is obviously the most sensible procedure. In various parts of the city dwellings and small business places are coming to the end of their long term leases, but Victoria Arcade is the first big block to be surrendered in this way. Civic Square leases are arranged on the same principle, and at the end of 66 years the huge theatre and other business houses which are now in the making, will be surrendered to the city without the right of compensation. When Victoria Arcade reverts to the city, the question of cutting a thoroughfare through the old post office site in Shortland Street to Fort Street, probably will be revived with enthusiasm by those who advocate this route for traffic rslief. Just now the syndicate that controls the block has no reason to regret its investment of £30,000 in the remaining 13 years’ interest in the lease.