"With vacancy levels for prime office accommodation in Auckland CBD falling to cyclical lows and this property will be of interest to buyers looking for a high-quality investment."
The ground floor of 16 Viaduct Harbour is strata title office generating $124,786 a year in net rent plus GST. It has 486.6sq m of modern office space, and comes with five secure undercover car parks.
It is occupied by Independent Maori Statutory Board, which was formed by Auckland Council in 2010 to promote Maori issues in the city.
The council's six-year lease expires in July 2018, with two three-year rights of renewal.
Other tenants in the six-storey Georgian-styled block include boutique commercial law firm Burton & Co and investment firms Lane Capital Group, Prospect Group, Tramco Group and Tappenden Management Services.
"The ground floor for sale is well maintained and located in an enclave of modern buildings that have attracted a wide range of high-profile tenants, such as KPMG, Auckland Transport and Microsoft. It also sits directly across the road from the five-star Sofitel Hotel," Pittaway says.
"The building's distinctive clock tower has made it a local landmark, boosting the property's profile and making it an attractive investment."
Pittaway says the location offers easy access to motorways and is close to public transport hubs, including Britomart rail station and the Downtown Ferry Terminal.
"It is also within walking distance of the Viaduct and North Wharf hospitality hubs, Auckland Theatre Company's ASB Waterfront theatre and the soon-to-be completed $200m five-star Park Hyatt hotel, which is being developed by Chinese company Fu Wah International on the former Emirates Team New Zealand site," he says.
The Maritime Square office block was developed in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and remains one of Auckland CBD's most popular office precincts, with its vacancy rate falling from 3.1 percent in January 2016 to 2.3 percent in the latest CBD office survey by Bayleys Research.
"This is below the overall CBD vacancy rate of 6.25 per cent," Pittaway says.
Viaduct Harbour, he says, has become increasingly attractive to commercial and corporate tenants as a result of the CBD's expansion westward to Victoria Park and Wynyard Quarter - which is home to the new Bayleys headquarters, IBM, Datacom and Fonterra as well as the Auckland Council-driven Innovation Precinct.
"The ongoing development in Wynyard Quarter is expected to attract an additional 11,000 workers and 2000 residents to the area over the next decade, extending the vibrant, people friendly mixed use waterfront precinct that Viaduct Harbour has established over the past 20 years," Pittaway says.
"We would expect that the popularity of this part of the CBD as a business location will continue to grow as additional amenities are put in place and it becomes an even more attractive place to work."
