All roads lead to prime freehold site in Epsom

The large property at 77 Great South Rd in Epsom sits on a busy corner.

A big freehold site in Epsom, within the Auckland Grammar Zone and with resource consent to build a three level motor vehicle dealership showroom, has finally been put up for sale after years of inquiries about its availability.

The 3884sq m property, which has three road frontages and exposure to large volumes of passing cars on the corners of Great South and Market Rds and Mt St John Ave, has accommodated businesses associated with the motor industry for at least 30 years and more recently has been occupied by a law firm and other tenants.

In the 1970s and 80s Cable Price ran it as a used car yard for Mercedes and then Toyota vehicles. About 10 years ago it was a service station and then a Citroen dealership and workshop. Skoda cars were the last to be sold and serviced on the site.

The site is in two titles with Title One, the larger of the two, comprising an area of 3115sq m at 77 Great South Rd, having a Mixed Use zoning. Title Two, of 769sq m on the corner of Market Rd and Mt Saint John Ave, is zoned Residential 5.

The property is up for sale with vacant possession by international tender closing May 30, as part of Bayleys' latest Total Property portfolio, through Mike Adams and Clint Barber of Bayleys Auckland. Tenders can be submitted for the property as one parcel or for the separate titles.

While there is resource consent in place for a motor vehicle dealership to build a new three-level showroom building with basement parking and workshop space, the site has a mix of zonings.

"This allows for many options for future development, encompassing a wide variety of potential retail, showroom, light industrial and residential uses," says Barber.

There is currently a modern 455sq m building, comprising workshop, showroom and office space on the larger site along with a storage shed and older office building. On the smaller site, a 1930s, 160sq m bungalow sits on the Mt St John frontage.

"There has been substantial interest in this property over the years and more so when people have recently seen that it has been vacant," Adams says. "Interest has picked up a notch again since we've put it up for sale on behalf of the current owner who is divesting to concentrate on other interests after drawing up plans to redevelop it.

"The owner has fielded many calls from people wanting to purchase the property and has heard every variation of commercial possibility for the site from a drive-in veggie outlet to retail development with apartments above. The reason for the interest is the property's location on such a major intersection with high visibility to drivers stopped at the lights. It is also in the heart of some of Auckland's most expensive residential suburbs and has a huge road frontage on to Great South Rd which raises its profile substantially."

Adams says the property is generating inquiry from high end retailers and a variety of other owner occupiers. There has also been a lot of interest from residential developers given its location within the "double Grammar zone", he says.

Barber says the property would suit a destination business because there is plenty of off-road parking on and around the site. "It offers developers, owner occupiers or investors a fantastic opportunity to create a high value asset in a prime location."