The warehouse and office building for sale at 9-13 Exmouth St, Eden Terrace.
The warehouse and office building for sale at 9-13 Exmouth St, Eden Terrace.
An elevated site housing a large warehouse and office building overlooking Basque Park in the popular central Auckland suburb of Eden Terrace is for sale with potential for residential redevelopment.
The 1322 sq m site and its 2125 sq m building at 9-13 Exmouth St are included in Bayleys' latest Total Property portfolio and are being sold by tender closing on August 13 unless the property is sold earlier by negotiation.
"This represents a huge add value opportunity," says Paul Dixon of Bayleys Auckland office who, with colleagues Alan Haydock and Damien Bullick, is marketing the property.
"It's in a superb position looking down on Basque Park - an inner city oasis around which a large cluster of residential apartments and town houses is continuing to develop," Dixon says. "The area is proving very popular with both residential tenants and owner occupiers because of its easy access to the city centre, University of Auckland and Auckland University of Technology as well as Auckland Hospital.
"There's already a well established residential precinct in the area and a number of new apartment developments near Basque Park are either underway or about to commence. These have been largely sold off the plans which reflect the strong demand for residential dwellings in the area."
The owner occupier of the property at 9-13 Exmouth Street since 2003 is the French Country Collection which is relocating but offering to lease back the premises for one year from settlement, at a net rental of $285,000 plus GST, with two rights of renewal of three months each. Established in 1987, the company imports French and European inspired furniture and homewares and wholesales to retailers, designers and the corporate trade, with stockiststhroughout Australasia.
The split level industrial building has two levels of warehousing with separate roller door access and offices plus basement storage. The upper ground level comprises 773 sq m of 5.5 metres high warehouse space and 149 sq m of offices. The lower ground floor has 738 sq m of 4.8 metre high warehousing and 121 sq m of office space and a staff cafeteria. The lower basement, with a stud height of 3.8 metres, provides 343 sq m of storage space.
The sloping site has a 30 metre frontage to Exmouth Street which is a short through road connecting to the two main arterials of New North Rd and Newton Rd, while about 8.6 metres of the Norwich St frontage runs along the side of Basque Park. The property also has nine covered and 16 uncovered car parking spaces.
Aerial view over 9-13 Exmouth St, Eden Terrace with property circle depicting its location in relation to Basque Park and the city.
Haydock says the building could have appeal to another owner occupier looking for CBD fringe warehouse and office space or to investors and land bankers looking to take advantage of the short term cash flow and secure a long term tenant following the current lease expiry.
"However, given the property's position and the ongoing trend which has seen the majority of commercial and industrial buildings around Basque Park converted to residential use, it will also be of interest to add value buyers."
Haydock and colleague Cameron Melhuish recently sold a large vacant office building directly behind, at 10-12 Exmouth St, to a developer intending to convert the property to residential use and extend the existing three level building upwards.
"While interested parties would need to undertake their own engineering investigation, adding further bulk to 9-13 Exmouth St as permitted by its zoning would also add considerable value to this property," says Haydock.
Alan Haydock of Bayleys.
He says the building appears to have been solidly constructed with concrete foundations and concrete block walls on the lower floor areas and horizontal Colorsteel cladding across the middle and upper floors. "The building has a seismic assessment of 141 per cent of New Building Standard which is well above code."
The property currently has a Mixed Use zoning allowing a mix of residential, business, educational and leisure activities in areas of the city which have easy access to public transportation.
The property has the same zoning under the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan but with an additional height overlay giving a maximum limit of 20.5 metres above street level. "This would enable the site to be more intensively developed and open up views not only over Basque Park but across the CBD and out to the Waitemata Harbour and Waitakeres," says Haydock.
"This area is likely to continue to grow due to it being close to the CBD and other popular city fringe suburbs like Ponsonby and within an area having major public transport and motorway links - along with an intensification of an already flexible zoning."
