Carlton Newmarket site a prime proposition

Front Broadway street view of the Carlton DFK centre at 135-153 Broadway. Photo / Supplied

The Carlton DFK office and retail building, housing a large Kathmandu store in the heart of Newmarket's shopping strip and comprising the last part of the Newmarket holding of Ladstone Developments, is for sale.

The fully leased commercial property is being sold by James Chan, of Bayleys Auckland, and Bayleys' executive director David Bayley, on behalf of Ladstone Developments.

Ladstone Developments bought the Rialto retail and cinema centre and the adjoining Carlton DFK Centre from the National Property Trust in 2009, and has put the latter up for sale by international tender, closing December 8.

The mixed-use Carlton DFK Centre at 135-153 Broadway, with dual frontage on Osborne St, has ground and first-floor retail plus five upper office floors of 682sq m each and an adjacent multi-level parking building. The property provides a net annual rental income of $1,526,756. It has a net lettable area of 4608sq m and is located on a substantial 2408sqm freehold landholding in two titles. The seven-level retail and office building was developed in the mid-1980s, together with the five-level parking building. This provides 84 parking spaces and is located at the rear of the site on Osborne St, a newly developed boutique retail strip.

Clothing retailer Kathmandu has leased all the retail space in the Carlton DFK Centre, with its 1291sqm store accounting for 28 per cent of the total lettable area and 34 per cent of the total income. The New Zealand publicly listed company has a new eight-year lease with a further four four-year rights of renewal.

"Kathmandu's decision to position a flagship store in the building underlines the strength of the location in the highest foot-traffic area in Newmarket," Chan says. The Kathmandu store benefits from a 32m frontage on Broadway and the retail space between the two floors is connected by an internal set of escalators.

The premises is one of 39 shops that Kathmandu has in New Zealand. It also has 66 stores in Australia and six in Britain.

The two largest office tenants are accounting and business services firms Gilligan Rowe & Associates and Carlton DFK, which occupy 682sq m and 555sq m.

Other tenants include Auckland legal firm Fisher Lamberg, international technology company Imarda NZ, and quantity surveying and construction consultants Rawlinsons.

David Bayley says that Newmarket not only has a strong retail property base but is also one of the most well established city-fringe office precincts in Auckland, serving a working population of about 20,000 people.

"Good quality office space like the Carlton DFK Centre has remained virtually fully leased," says Bayley.

"Newmarket's central location, strong transport links and high level of amenities makes it a popular office location."

The Carlton DFK Centre is situated between a flagship Apple store and the Rialto Shopping Centre, which includes the Rialto seven-screen arthouse cinema, an ANZ Bank and a variety of leading national and international fashion and homeware brands.

The property is adjacent to the crossroads of two major arterials, Broadway and Khyber Pass, and is in an area which is home to many of Newmarket's larger, longer-term tenants, says Chan. "This offering provides an excellent opportunity to acquire a quality mixed-use property, with a good mix of international, national and local tenants and a diversified spread of income from retail, office and car parking."

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