Augusta CBD building sells for $30m

The Victoria St West building is next to the recently completed BDO Centre office complex, in which NZME is the anchor tenant. Photo / Supplied

A five-level, 4777sq m commercial building occupied by NZ Post, at 151 Victoria St West in Auckland's CBD, has sold for $30 million to an offshore buyer.

The property is located next to the recently completed BDO Centre office complex, in which NZME is the anchor tenant, and is across the road from Spark's head office campus.

It is the fourth property to sell in NZX listed property company Augusta Capital Limited's Value-Add Fund No. 1 and was sold fully leased to NZ Post until 2022 at a 5.93 per cent yield by Beterly Pan and James Chan of Bayleys' International Division.

Chan says the building located on a 1741sq m site on the corner with Hardinge St was bought by a Hong Kong based investor.

"Key factors attracting the purchaser were the property's strong location in the CBD's increasingly sought-after Victoria Quarter precinct, its 75 carparks and the potential for future rental income growth. The building is underutilised by NZ Post and there is also potential to extend the lower ground floor to create additional retail space."

Augusta's Value-Add Fund No. 1 was established by Augusta Funds Management in 2016 as an investment fund for wholesale investors, with a targeted internal rate of return of 11 to 14 per cent.

It raised $60mof investor equity for the purchase of five Auckland commercial and industrial properties. Other buildings in the portfolio to sell so far are two large industrial holdings in Mt Wellington and Morningside (both sold by Bayleys), and a 16-level, 3252sq m office tower in Kitchener St in the CBD.

Guy French-Wright, chief operating officer for Augusta Capital Limited, says the four properties sold for a total value of $111.8m.

"The sale of 151 Victoria St represents another outstanding outcome for our investors and is further testament to our ability to execute in line with the original investment strategy of the Value Add Fund.

"We are now focused on wrapping up the fund with the careful consideration of all options to maximise the value of the final asset at 54 Cook St."

Augusta Funds Management and Bayleys also successfully syndicated two buildings in the same CBD block as the NZ Post building at 151 Victoria St last year. Building A in the BDO Centre attracted $70m in investors' equity while a separate syndication of Building B raised $52.5m in equity.