Chance for a place on the highway to success

Warehouse, office and amenities building at 5 & 9 McLaughlins Rd, Manukau City, now leased by Southpac Trucks. Photo / Supplied

A prime Manukau City 1.01 hectare industrial site that has high exposure to the new State Highway 20 extension in South Auckland is being marketed for lease or sale via a sole agency by Jones Lang LaSalle.

Industrial broker Paul Steele says the property at 5 & 9 McLaughlins Rd is leased to Southpac Trucks and features a large 8920sq m concrete yard with 1765sq m of warehouse, offices and amenities.

"The layout provides a competitive edge over many other industrial sites in the Business Zone 6 area which typically have a high warehouse or office component and minimal yard area. And having a site area of over 1ha, there are real possibilities for the building to be expanded," Steele says.

The land and premises are available for rent at $430,000 per annum or alternatively the property could be bought for $5.2 million.

The site is located next to the new State Highway 20, less than 100 metres from on and off ramps for Roscommon Rd and Cavendish Drive.

Steele says the ability for prospective occupiers to expose their business to passing highway traffic is a strong point of difference for the highly visible McLaughlins Rd site.

"The state highway extension will improve infrastructural networks and linkages for many companies who require access within and surrounding Auckland region's boundaries," he says.

"The new motorway is an integral component of the 48km Western Ring Route, which will connect Manukau, Auckland, Waitakere and North Shore cities. Importantly for the local Manukau area, it will bypass 12 sets of traffic lights in the surrounding road network."

The new section of motorway will be 4.5km long and includes the new Puhinui Road, Roscommon Road and Lambie Drive interchanges. It will also include a large interchange with the southern motorway, where the southern end of the south-western motorway will terminate.

The $260 million development is expected to open in three stages with southbound lanes opening this month, the westbound lanes next month and the final elements due to open at the end of this year.

"Prospective occupiers who are looking to relocate or establish business in Manukau are highly conscious of the new infrastructure and how this will help their business," Steele says. "Easy access from industrial sites to major arterial routes is vitally important for business productivity and the exposure this building receives provides an extra benefit that few properties can emulate."

Steele says Southpac Trucks has experienced a significant order intake of new truck business in recent months which has resulted in Southpac Trucks outgrowing the McLaughlins Rd site. To meet the company's expanded requirements, a much larger property was purchased neighbouring Southpac Truck's existing headquarters facility on Wiri Station Rd.

However, in the meantime, Southpac Trucks' lease at 5 and 9 McLaughlins Rd still has just over a year to run, with the tenant and landlord searching for a new occupier or alternatively a new owner-occupier or investor for the site.

Maarten Durent, chief executive for Southpac Trucks, says the McLaughlins Rd site has been a good fit for the firm's business, but it now wants to consolidate to its head office and redevelop the adjacent site to create a much larger truck service facility.

"We expect there will be a lot of interest in the McLaughlins Road site from a wide range of potential occupiers and investors due to its characteristics," Steele says. "This property has a huge drive-around concrete yard, three site access points, nine roller shutter doors, a 3.5 tonne gantry crane - and its prominence to State Highway 20. This is not just a standard warehouse, but instead has some very special qualities that will attract a variety of occupiers.

"The site is obviously suited to its current use as a truck service centre, but we also expect strong interest from car/boat sales yards, trade retail as well as construction companies and heavy engineering uses."

Chris Dibble, head of research at Jones Lang LaSalle, says the Auckland regional industrial sector has increased significantly during the past decade, with just over 8 million sq m of floor space.

Dibble says, while the overall Auckland regional vacancy rate has increased to 7.8 per cent from a record low 2.9 per cent at the end of 2007, increases in the manufacturing and transport and storage sectors of the economy recorded in the latest GDP results are flowing through to the industrial sector.

"Business productivity has stimulated occupier demand which enabled the vacancy rate to decrease by just less than 1 per cent or around 50,000sq m over the first six months of 2010," says Dibble.

"The recovery in economic conditions will likely support further positive momentum in the industrial sector.

"History shows that the industrial sector's performance closely relates to underlying economic conditions. This suggests the window of opportunity in the industrial sector will be closing soon. Occupiers looking for a new site to establish growing business conditions and owner-occupiers looking to reduce their overheads, along with purchasers interested in investing in industrial property, should act quickly."