Majestic Centre

The Majestic Centre, designed by Jack Manning of Manning Mitchell in association with Kendon McGrail of Jasmax Architects, was completed in 1991. The main building of the Majestic Centre is the Majestic Tower which is the tallest building in Wellington, New Zealand. The building, located on 100 Willis Street is 116 metres (381 ft) high and has 29 storeys, making it the ninth-tallest skyscraper building in New Zealand, along with the ASB Bank Centre in Auckland. It was, at the time of its completion, one of the three tallest buildings in the country, the two other contenders (ANZ Centre and ASB Tower in Auckland) being built in the same year. It is mainly used as office space.

As of 2014, Ernst & Young New Zealand is the anchor tenant, with naming rights to the building. Other tenants include Opus International Consultants Limited, the Japanese Embassy, Cigna Life Insurance New Zealand Ltd, the Earthquake Commission and Airways Corporation.

The site was originally occupied by the Majestic theatre, also used as a cinema and cabaret which operated from 1929 to 1984. The cabaret was a key venue for ballroom events in Wellington. By the time of its closure in 1984, the Cabaret was deemed to be an earthquake risk, and demolition began in 1987 to make way for its namesake high-rise building.

Following the 2011 Canterbury earthquake, the Majestic Tower was assessed by engineering consultants to be of moderate earthquake risk, with strengthening costs initially estimated at NZD$35 million, later revised upwards to $83-$85 million. The work was completed to 100% earthquake compliance in 2016.

Text imported from Wikipedia article "Majestic Centre" and modified on 23 July 2019 under the CC-BY-SA 3.0 license.