Harcourts Coastline

The Old Bank Opens Its Doors Again

Harcourts Coastline celebrated the official opening of its restored ANZ building on 16th September 2026, marking a new chapter in Reibey Street's history and setting a new benchmark for business real estate in the main street of Ulverstone.

For close to a century, the building at 44 Reibey Street kept the town's money safe. These days, it is helping people find somewhere new to keep their families instead. Harcourts Coastline has been quietly settling into its beautifully restored home since the renovation wrapped up.

On the 16th September 2026 the team marked the occasion in style, throwing open the doors for an official opening. It is enlightening to see what inspiring vision, a great deal of patience, and a genuine love of Ulverstone’s main street can do.

A landmark that never really left

Built around 1888, the old ANZ building is one of the most recognisable pieces of heritage architecture in the town centre, the kind of building people give directions by. Its roundhead windows on the ground floor and squarehead windows above have watched over the main street through more than a century of change, most of it as the local bank branch, before it was eventually decommissioned and sold.

It is exactly the sort of building the Central Coast wants to see brought back into daily use rather than left to quietly wait, and it now stands as a genuine example of what heritage restoration on the main street can look like when it is done well.

Renovating Our Future

Harcourts Ulverstone & Penguin had outgrown its previous office, and rather than simply look for something bigger, the team chose to look for something with a story. They acquired the old bank building in late 2025 and set about a restoration project they referred to, fittingly, as Renovating Our Future.

We love that! It conjures up images of solid, old world quality service, dedication to people and place while looking towards an innovative future worth building with strength.

Working alongside local specialists JDR Homes and Bill Burford Detailed Joinery, the team spent months on the painstaking work heritage buildings demand, from rotten window sills through to the finer joinery details, balancing period charm against the practical comforts of a modern working office.

The result, completed in early February 2026, keeps Harcourts Coastline anchored on the ground floor as the public face of the building, while the first floor has been reimagined as premium, plug-and-play office space now leased to complementary local businesses in health, recruitment and training.

“A new home, a new name in Harcourts Coastline, and one team serving clients from Heybridge to Hawley Beach.” - Brad Reeves and Wendy Squibb, Directors

A new name for a growing patch

Harcourts has been part of the North West Coast community for more than sixteen years, with Robyn Lawrence at the helm from 2010 until 2023, when the business passed into the hands of current directors Brad Reeves and Wendy Squibb.

Restoring a landmark commercial building suits them well. Brad's background in engineering, project management and property development means he understands exactly what a project like this demands, while Wendy has been one of the standout names under the Harcourts banner since 2020.

Together they have overseen not just a move but a transformation, rebranding the business as Harcourts Coastline, one of the North West Coast's leading real estate teams and now, at 44 Reibey Street, working out of a 138-year-old bank.

That growth has also seen the business open a second office at 47 Oldaker Street in Devonport, the former Michael Burr Real Estate building opposite Hill Street Grocer, extending its reach into the Devonport and Shearwater franchise areas and, with it, from Heybridge through to Hawley Beach.

But it is the Ulverstone office, and the old bank building it now calls home, that told the real story on 16th September 2026.

“Our clients will still be dealing with the same wonderful staff they know and trust.” - Brad Reeves, Principal, Managing Director

Pride, patience and hard work - doors officially open 16th September 2026

Having settled into the building since the renovation was finished, the team is now marking the occasion properly, the way any good main street business should, by throwing the doors open and inviting the street in.

Brad and Wendy were quick to thank the community that has stood alongside them through the move to 44 Reibey Street: this is a business that sees its new name and new home as a testament to the people who helped build it. At the opening, this editor had a quiet word with Bob Reeves, who is Brad’s very proud old Dad. There was a lot of pride in his eyes as he spoke of the patience and love lavished on this wonderful old building by his son, Wendy, and their team. But now, it’s down to business as usual.

Brad and Wendy have expressed strong confidence in Central Coast, and we love that here at Make it Central. It shows that this is not only a good place to live, but a great place to build a business too.

The beauty and resilience of the old bank building echoes the sentiment of this community: where past history and future growth are linked together by the people who love their place. If this is what “renovating our future” looks like, more of our old buildings should be so lucky.

Images supplied by Harcourts Coastline. Credits: Nathan White