Asian supermarket and shops go up for auction

The New North Rd site can be built on up to 15m high and is zoned for mixed business use. Photo / Supplied

One of the biggest freehold properties along New North Rd at Mt Albert is to be auctioned next Tuesday.

An Asian supermarket and seven individual shops are sitting on a 3345sq m site offering redevelopment possibilities.

The popular shopping destination at 949 New North Rd is fully tenanted and returns $420,500 a year, but the site can carry a building up to 15m in height.

The rectangular, corrugated-iron, mainly flat-roofed 1740sq m premises enclose a 1368sq m supermarket, retail shops covering 372sq m and mezzanine offices. Outside there are 50 carparks.

The freehold site has a 90m frontage to New North Rd, dual access points and three roller shutter doors. More than 20,000 cars pass along the busy arterial road daily.

CBRE investment sales director Dominic Ong, who is marketing the property, says the site's zoning opens it up to a wide range of redevelopment possibilities.

"As it is surrounded by mainly leasehold land it will be desirable for investors or developers."

Under the Auckland City Council's flexible mixed-use business zoning there are numerous business uses permitted on the site, including restaurants, cafes, warehousing, storage, a hostel, motel/backpackers, community welfare and education facilities, motor vehicle service premises, light manufacturing and residential units.

Development controls allow a maximum height of 15m and the permitted basic floor area ratio is 2:1. If bonuses are available, a gross floor area ratio of 4:1 is allowable.

Ong says well located properties, with development growth in the retail sector are being favoured by buyers. "Investors from different ethnic communities and wealthy private clients, such as family or charitable trusts, are keenly contesting retail property with good fundamentals and cash flow," he says. He says astute developers and investors are repositioning their assets for the next property cycle and retail is on the radar of serious buyers. "Increasing the average lease term, improving the quality of the asset or redeveloping it will pay off in the medium to longer term."