The purchase, for an undisclosed sum, understood to be less than the $1.5 million paid by a string of previous unsuccessful developers, may finally see the building, which includes two adjoining premises, refurbished and tenanted after more than 10 years of being largely idle and falling into disrepair.
Mr Daniels confirmed the sale yesterday, when contacted, saying it was crucial to future plans that potential tenants come forward, as that would determine how much would be spent.
He admitted the "huge investment" for refurbishment could be more than $1 million to $1.5 million.
"It's pretty tough times at the moment with not many companies looking for premises. We need to find a company that wants to relocate to a place with a higher profile," Mr Daniels said.
He is best known for ownership of 107-year-old Bracken Court in Moray Pl, which was spectacularly gutted by fire in July 2005 and was rebuilt for about $3 million, while Mr Marsh owns two other Dunedin buildings.
Mr Daniels described the BNZ as "requiring major work", including the immediate eviction of a flock of resident pigeons, repairing broken windows, vandalism and water damage, which had caused rot in several places.
"It would be ideal to have it at least partly tenanted within the next two years," he said.
It was also a "problem building" in that it had a large outdated banking chamber, which would have to be split for multiple tenancy, however Mr Daniels hoped its expansive coffered plaster ceiling, protected by the Historic Places Trust, could be used as a feature.
"We're both building conservators and want to make this work so that part of town comes alive again," he said of the Exchange area, where development proposals of more than $35 million have been disappointingly stop-start in recent years.
A buyer from the mortgagee sale of the chief post office has not been announced by South Canterbury Finance, which is owed $7.5 million following a failed attempt to develop a $80 million Dunedin Hilton project by now bankrupted Auckland developer Dan McEwan.
Amid recent rumours the Otago Regional Council and Dunedin City Council are now considering the post office site, an application by Auckland-based CP Group for construction of a six-storeyed, more than $5 million annexe, next to the former 125-year-old Wains Hotel in Princes St, has not progressed.
Embattled Hanover Finance is the second mortgage-holder over the BNZ building and had called in a loan against Auckland developer Mike McGurk, who planned an up to $10 million hotel development of the BNZ, prompting the first tender round, but the six tenders were rejected. The second tender round, in which Messrs Daniels and Marsh were successful, was forced by first mortgage-holder Crown Money Corporation Ltd, of Auckland, which would have first call on any funds realised, with any remaining funds going to Hanover Finance.
