Boutique Karaka avocado orchard

The avocado orchard, at 286 Seagrove Rd, is quite close to Manukau Harbour. Photo / Supplied

One of the closest commercial avocado orchards to Auckland city has been placed on the market.

The well-established avocado orchard in Waiau Pa, near Karaka, just south of Auckland's urban boundary features about 4ha of productive freehold land fully enclosed by Cyprus tree shelter belts.

Known as Seagrove Avocados, the 15-year-old orchard is planted on flat land sustaining 308 Hass avocado trees. Production records over the past eight seasons shows the orchard has averaged 14.5 tons per hectare — well above the national average production level.

The orchard occupies about 2.8 canopy hectares of free-draining productive land and includes 41 pollinator trees supporting the main plantings.

The topography of the land and its closeness to the Manukau Harbour has ensured that the orchard has not been affected by frosts. The trees are fully irrigated by an automated sprinkler system.

All fruit grown and picked at the orchard is transported to a commercial pack house, Kauripak, in the Bay of Plenty. Kauripak grades and packs fruit for both the domestic and export markets. Seagrove Avocados won Kauripak's "Grower of the Year" award in the 2010/2011 season.

Now the freehold orchard and supporting infrastructure buildings, at 286 Seagrove Rd, Waiau Pa, are being marketed for sale by tender closing 2pm March 28 through Bayleys Counties.

Bayleys Counties salespeople Peter Sullivan, Stefni Baigent and Kristina Liu say the Seagrove Avocados orchard is a prime opportunity to enter a growing export sector that is expanding sales into Asia — particularly with recent access into the Chinese market.

Sullivan says a catalogue of buildings linked to the Waiau Pa property and orchard feature a high-end four-bedroom/two lounge/two bathroom home; and a 90sq m machinery shed and workshop.

"The size of the orchard and the quality of the homestead means Seagrove Avocados has the potential to run as either a full-time or part-time operation, or as a contract business model.