The university took ownership of the former Castle St hotel, which had rateable value of $6 million, last Friday after announcing it had bought it earlier in the month.
Property services director Barry MacKay yesterday said that apart from looking at using the building for student accommodation, it was also possible it could be occupied by staff forced out of buildings during earthquake-strengthening or other work.
''The long-term purpose of the building will be to provide accommodation for students,'' Mr MacKay said.
''However, the option of using it for short-term decant space, where staff are temporarily relocated while work, such as seismic-strengthening, is done on their buildings, is being investigated,'' he said.
The university was still unable to reveal how much it paid for the building because the sale and purchase agreement contained a confidentiality clause.
''We have no objection to releasing the information so have asked the receivers for approval to do [that],'' he said.
The building was bought from the receivers for Castle Street Ventures Ltd.
The cost of converting the building for university purposes would be determined once final use was decided.
The university was part way through a $50 million earthquake-strengthening programme, to be completed by 2019. So far, seven buildings, including its Property Services and arts building, have been found to be earthquake-prone.
Castle Street Ventures Ltd receiver Stephen Tubbs, of BDO, refused to comment on how many workers were laid off after the hotel's closure, saying that in his view commenting would ''be a breach of the New Zealand Institute of Accountants Code of Ethics''.
