Trade-based retail mcentre takes shape

Tom Tuke (left) and Dean Whimp inspect the construction at 68 Carbine Rd. Photo / Supplied

Carbine Rd, Mt Wellington, will be home to a new $7.4 million trade-based retail centre that is being developed by Aubrey Edward Group.

In the middle stages of construction, the development will open at the end of next month on the corner of Carbine and Bowden Rds. Group directors Tom Tuke and Dean Whimp say the units are for sale or lease.

While Mt Wellington has other individual trade-based retail sites, the Aubrey Edward's project is the first big development centred around a building that carries four showroom/warehouse tenancies ranging in size from 415sq m to 800sq m on one site.

The 2024sq m centre on a high-profile corner site already has its first tenant, JA Russell, a New Zealand-wide electrical, data/communications, lighting and automation wholesaler, which has taken an eight-year lease over 550sq m premises.

Tuke says JA Russell had been in the market for some time looking for suitable Mt Wellington premises but preferred Carbine Rd for its exposure to passing traffic and proximity to Sylvia Park.

"For trade-based and retail companies, location is paramount," Tuke says. "They need to be close to their client base, have an attractive showroom for passing customers, as well as a warehouse for storage and often some office space."

Aubrey Edward Group spent months on extensive planning and design of a cost-effective and attractive centre before lodging a resource consent application.

"We jiggled the site coverage around to accommodate JA Russell's requirements and arrived at a classy Woodhams/Meikle/Zhan designed building that has a fly roof and exterior louvres as architectural features and a driveway around the property for ease of loading and unloading goods at the rear," says Whimp.

JA Russell Auckland area manager Jeff Woodward says the decision to take premises at the Carbine Rd development was a strategic and calculated move for the company. "The location will give us the ability to get closer to our existing customer base and also provide a launch platform into new markets. We have added strength to our network with the addition of this brand new outlet."

The site is just metres from the Southeastern Highway, Sylvia Park shopping centre and the country's broadest mix of retail. Sylvia Park has more than 200 shops, 2500 staff and hundreds of thousands of shoppers passing through every year.

"The location is a major drawcard for trade-based retail businesses," says Tuke. "Mt Wellington is emerging as a retail hub after throwing off the shackles of its industrial past. Carbine Rd has undergone a major transformation from a pure industrial and manufacturing precinct in the 1950s-1960s to a retail and service-based hub, with easy access and public transport.

"We didn't want a development that looked like a shed. The high-profile site demanded a striking building that shouldered the responsibility of providing quality trade-based showrooms to lead the charge in changing the image of the area.

"A couple of property owners are looking at what we are doing and considering converting their older buildings to showroom/warehouse/office properties. Carbine Rd is gradually moving to a higher standard of properties. The land is too valuable for just warehousing."

CB Richard Ellis industrial broker Dave Arlidge, who is marketing the development, says the site is at the demographic and geographic heart of Auckland. "It's accessibility from Carbine and Bowden Rds and to and from the main arterial routes makes it an ideal location for trade-base retail companies."

Arlidge says Aubrey Edward Group is flexible on the size and layout of the three remaining units. "They can be altered to suit buyers' or tenants' requirements in terms of showroom/office /warehouse configurations.

"Bigger, 900sq m premises can be provided by combining two units for those who want more space ..." He says unit A is to be configured to carry 200sq m of high-quality mezzanine office space and a 200sq m ground floor showroom.

The fully fire-sprinklered concrete and steel building has a 6m stud, which allows for a range of racking options up to full height. "Businesses can make better use of the capacity available in the units," says Whimp.

"Each unit has good signage opportunities to the more than 30,000 vehicles a day passing the site and exposure to the Southeastern arterial, which 60,000-70,000 cars a day use."

Prospective tenants wanting to upgrade their premises or expand have a number of choices from the smallest 415sq m unit and eight carparks for $101,658 net a year, to the biggest unit of 800sq m and 14 carparks for $195,280 net per year.

Arlidge expects interest in both the sale and lease of the units to be high. "Trade retail space of this calibre and value remains sought after."

CBRE research shows demand for industrial stock has been resilient, and increased activity in the investment market indicates there is both equity and credit for the right type of property. Figures show there is an under-supply of investment stock relative to investor interest.

Aubrey Edward Group bought the site in August last year. It had been a low stud warehouse with connecting office and showroom units used by former owner Walrus for 20 years to manufacture orthopaedic and sport products.

"It was a prime redevelopment site," says Whimp.

"We took an option on the site because we wanted to spread our wings and develop bigger projects closer to the city."

Until now the Auckland-based development company has concentrated on industrial unit business parks in East Tamaki and Manukau.

"We knew it was a site where we could develop something different that would appeal to another sector of the market in a precinct that has been short on quality investor and tenant stock," says Tuke.

In conjunction with the Carbine Rd project, Aubrey Edward Group is working on the East Field development on 4ha of former Fisher & Paykel land in Kerwyn Ave, East Tamaki.

The company, as the development partner for a family trust, is developing a green-rated industrial property with floorplates from 500sq m to 15,000sq m.