The nearly one hectare site for sale fronts Great South Rd and is partly occupied by a car dealership.
The nearly one hectare site for sale fronts Great South Rd and is partly occupied by a car dealership.
Nearly one hectare of land is for sale in Auckland's Great South Road right next to the AUT South Campus in Manukau and with a zoning suited to a range of commercial activies.
"This area will be the focus of some serious urban regeneration in coming years," says Nick Hargreaves managing director of JLL who, with agent Jarred Hill, is selling a subdivided lot comprising 9046.84sq m of land at 622 Great South Rd through an expressions of interest process, closing at 4pm on Thursday December 22.
"A developer with vision will take advantage of the student population here and build something that will complement the AUT campus," Hargreaves says. "There are thousands of students coming to AUT South each day along with 24,000 vehicles a day passing this site on Great South Road."
Hill says the property with an approximate frontage of 100 metres to Great South is surplus to AUT's requirements. The nearly one hectare lot, currently part-leased to a car dealership, is part of a 4.5ha site at 622 Great South Road with a carpark at the rear of the property.
Overall, the AUT South Campus is an 8ha site which was once occupied by the headquarters of Carter Holt Harvey. Attending AUT students can gain qualifications in business, computing, design, engineering technology, health science, law and sport.
"Under the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan, the land for sale is zoned for Business - Mixed Use zoning allowing for all sorts of commercial possibilities," Hill says. "There's a range of permitted activities here including food and beverage outlets, community facilities, artisan industries, laboratories and storage facilities."
The site a 1.4km walk from the Manukau railway station and is just around the corner from the on and off-ramps to State Highway 1 from where it is a 22km drive to the CBD.
"The purchaser of the land for sale, which will most likely be available with vacant possession, will be able to capitalise on the success of the Manukau AUT with a suitable development," Hargreaves says.
"The AUT's new MH building is now under construction and is due to open in time for the first semester of 2017 which will allow AUT South to accommodate up to 4000 students."
Built on sustainable design principles the new building will house lecture theatres, a large atrium space with community access and a central green space which will be the heart of campus. Interior spaces in the four-storey building will house classrooms, offices, IT facilities and flexible study areas.
This aerial view depicts the land for sale at 622 Great South Rd in the bottom right corner, backing onto a car park.
The Manukau campus already has a number of special features that including Astroturf courts for hire, a swimming pool with café, a gym, student lounges, computer labs, a library and a shuttle bus running between the three AUT campuses. It has more than 380 carparks.
"Manukau has been identified by Auckland Council as an area with huge development potential," Hill says. "Panuku Development Auckland is working with central government to create more housing in the Manukau Metropolitan Centre. The goal is to make Manukau a vibrant, family-friendly centre."
The 600ha Transform Manukau project area includes the entire Metropolitan Centre Zone, the Manukau Sports Bowl site, the Wiri suburban neighbourhood to the south, and the Manukau Super Clinic site.
"The fact that the property lies within Panuku's project area is great news for the new owner of the Great South Rd land site," Hill says.
He says Panuku has completed its high-level project plan for the transformation of Manukau, which includes new housing as well as the redevelopment of Hayman Park and Puhinui Stream. The project plan identifies Manukau as the largest of Auckland's 10 metropolitan centres by employment and the closest to Auckland Airport.
"All this is significant for the area's growth prospects," Hargreaves says.
"Auckland Airport is rapidly becoming a commercial centre in its own right, with quality office space as well as industrial developments," Hargreaves says. "In addition, more and more Aucklanders are looking to the city's southern fringes to find more affordable housing or bigger sections, which indicates that Manukau will develop into a busy metropolitan centre in the coming years."
He says AUT became a university in 2000 and is New Zealand's fastest-growing university. In 2014 it had more than 28,000 students across its three campuses and awarded more than 7000 qualifications.
In the QS World University Rankings 2016/17, AUT advanced by 40 places to be ranked as one of the top 450 universities in the world which puts AUT in the top three percent of universities worldwide.
In the Time Higher Education World University Rankings 2016/2017, AUT is ranked in the top 20 in the world for International Outlook (making it the highest ranked university in this category in New Zealand and Australia), and among the world's top 600 universities. The International Outlook ranks universities according to their ability to attract international students and staff, as well as how well they engage and collaborate with overseas universities.
