The Flaxmere Village shopping centre is up for sale and there have been inquiries from around the country. Photo / Warren Buckland
Hong Kong owners have put the Flaxmere Village Shopping Centre on the market - a move that's excited the suburb's councillors.
The 2.17ha property, which includes 25 separate tenancies and 162 parking spaces, has been privately owned for 12 years by the Sung Family Trust.
The shopping centre was designed and built in the 1970s and was last sold by then owner local businessman Ray Durney in 2008 for $4.2 million.
Current tenancies include a dairy, pharmacy, health clinic and bakery anchored by the largest shop, New World Flaxmere.
Councillor Henare O'Keefe said the move is "quite exciting" and Flaxmere residents were also celebrating.
"If I won Lotto, I would buy it myself. It will be interesting to see who puts their hands up to invest in it."
He hoped the new buyer would "take the community along with them" and "have a long-lasting relationship with the people of Flaxmere".
He wants the development to be "taken to another level", expanded, and more shops or a restaurant added as the Flaxmere population and use of the village increases.
Fellow councillor Peleti Oli also hoped the sale would mean some of the empty shops would become tenanted by local entrepreneurs.
"At the moment it is quite vacant but it would be good to have those empty shops filled with local businesses so all of us in Flaxmere can support each other instead of taking our business elsewhere," he said.
There is opportunity for further development and rental growth in the complex.
An undeveloped area next to the liquor store has been identified by potential purchasers as a space for further development.
An area of about 1100sq m near the public library which has been leased to Hastings District Council at a peppercorn rental has been developed by the council as a village green. They maintain it on an ongoing basis until it may be required for further development.
The shopping centre is being marketed as a "significant investment property" and has a current rateable value of $5.6m.
When asked if the council is looking at purchasing the village, a Hastings District Council spokeswoman said the council is currently "assessing its options".
Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi chairman Ngahiwi Tomoana said the iwi is "considering facilitating a Kahungunu consortium to do a due diligence whether there's collective interest or individual [interest] in which a settlement group such as Heretaunga Tamatea in which case we will remove ourselves".
The property is being sold by Property Brokers Gisborne real estate agents Philip Searle and Brian Shields.
Searle said the current owners are selling as they look to divest some of their properties and take life easier as they get older.
The two agents said "a property such as Flaxmere Village ticks the boxes for a lot of sectors of the investment community".
The sale of shopping complexes such as this "don't become available that often", he said.
'The younger ones are quite likely to be more militant about it.'