The Merton East Convenience Centre itself comprises ground-floor outlets ranging from 71sq m through to 297sq m, with 309sq m of high-quality office space above. It is located on a 5436sq m site which also has 76 carparks plus another stand-alone building, incorporating a drive-through facility, occupied by Carl's Jr, an American-headquartered fast-food chain which has recently expanded into New Zealand.
"While not part of the sale, its premises will contribute to a high volume of traffic coming on to the site," says Chan.
The ground-level properties for sale are home to a variety of food and beverage tenants, plus a Jetts 24-hour gym which has an eight-year lease over 271sq m. Jetts is a rapidly growing fitness franchise which has 27 gyms throughout New Zealand and more than 140 in Australia.
Four occupants have new 10-year leases: the award-winning Columbus Cafe, which has 34 outlets nationwide; fruit and vege store Fresh Green, which occupies the largest amount of space at 297sq m; Liquor Spot, a new store concept for New Zealand's largest liquor chain, Liquor Centre; and St Johns Butchery, operated by the owner of the well-known Greenwood Corner Butchery.
There are also three eight-year leases to smaller takeaway food outlets: Bruce Lee Sushi, Global Stir Takeaways and Spice Traders.
The upper-level office space is leased to Framecad and is producing net annual rental income of $51,031. A Deloitte Fast 50 company, it specialises in the design and manufacture of steel framing machines and building products, and has relocated its head office from Parnell to be close to its design and production plant.
The Columbus lease has built-in annual rental growth of 4 per cent compounded. Rent reviews on the other leases are two-yearly either to market or the Consumer Price Index (CPI), although the Framecad lease is to CPI plus 2 per cent.
Matthew Chaytor, development consultant for Argyle Estates, which managed the development of the Merton East Convenience Centre, says the retail tenants were carefully chosen to provide a good mix and variety, with an emphasis on innovative businesses focused on building their brand profile.
Argyle Estates has been involved in a number of other retail convenience centre developments in Auckland, as well as Dressmart outlets and medical centres.
Chaytor says the site for the convenience centre was selected for its pivotal position in a rapidly growing area, and because of the under-supply of retail outlets servicing the Tamaki area and neighbouring affluent suburbs of St Heliers, Glendowie and St Johns.
He says the demand for retail premises in the area has been clearly demonstrated by the success and the rapid take-up on the Lunn Ave redevelopment in Mt Wellington.
The centre is located at the gateway to the University of Auckland's Tamaki campus, which is expected to grow from 3000 to 10,000 students.
High volumes of cars also travel through the neighbouring roundabout and from the surrounding sports facilities, particularly at weekends. In addition to the massive netball complex, these include Colin Maiden Park, home of the Auckland Aces cricket team, the ASB Tennis Centre and a large number of sports fields. The Oceania Football Confederation is also proposing to build a multi-purpose sports complex, estimated to cost $12 million to $15 million, between the netball and tennis complexes.
Donald says the centre will benefit from a number of private, local and central government growth initiatives. Providing the platform for this is the Auckland Council co-ordinated Tamaki Edge transformation initiative, which is likely to be New Zealand's largest urban-renewal project. This provides a 20-year plan for Tamaki which includes housing, parks, reserves and recreational facilities, transport and infrastructure, education, health and commercial facilities to support a population expected to double within that period and a workforce forecast to grow from 12,000 to 34,000. Proposed total investment of more than $3 billion will fuel the economic growth of the area.
An integral part of the transformation project is the Auckland-Manukau Eastern Transport Initiative (AMETI). This encompasses a $1.33 billion package of integrated transport improvements between Manukau and Glen Innes.
"Along with the opening of the Countdown supermarket across the road, this is expected to be of significant benefit to retailers occupying the Merton East Convenience Centre," says Donald.
