Hard to find big heavy industrial site

The 2ha heavy industrial site for sale at 32-38 Patiki Rd, Avondale.

A heavy industrial site of over two hectares in Avondale's popular Patiki Rd is up for tender offering a number of redevelopment options for the next owner.

The 20,207 sq m landholding, which has various industrial buildings on it, is for sale with vacant possession through Sunil Bhana, James Hill and Mike Houlker, Bayleys Auckland. They are marketing the property, which has a 2014 Capital Valuation of $6.5 million, by tenders closing on June 4, unless it sells beforehand by private treaty.

Hill says the property has a valuable Business 6 zoning, which allows for "heavy, noxious or otherwise unpleasant" industrial activity. A similar Heavy Industry zoning will continue under the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan which provides for industrial activities that may produce objectionable odour, dust and noise emissions.. Hill says a key attribute of the zone is that it contains sites big enough to accommodate large-scale, low intensity industrial activities.

James Hill of Bayleys.

"Large parcels of land with this zoning are becoming increasingly difficult to secure in Auckland as a result of the city's residential expansion and the planning controls that have to be put in place near intensive housing areas. The sale of this property has opened up a rare opportunity for a big manufacturing owner occupier, or possibly a business that needing a large amount of yard space for heavy vehicles, to make the most of this site and the wide range of industrial activities that its zoning permits."

Hill says there is also an opportunity for an add value investor or developer to subdivide the site into a number of tenancies or possibly create an industrial estate which caters for smaller industrial businesses.

"There's a real shortage of premises for these tenants at present, particularly if they require more than standard light industrial warehouse space," he says.

Bhana says there are a number of buildings on the site totalling 3809 sq m which range from around 100 sq m to 700 sq m and comprise a mix of older industrial buildings and workshops in varying condition with an administrative office block fronting Patiki Rd.

Mike Houlkner of Bayleys.

"The property has a central entry point with a thoroughfare through the site providing access to the various buildings, some of which could be incorporated into any redevelopment - or a new owner may prefer to start from scratch. The site also has a number of bunded areas throughout that could potentially be redeveloped to provide additional yard areas."

Houlker says a big attraction for investors, developers or owner occupiers is the property's location in the Rosebank Road industrial precinct which provides superb motorway access. "There are two northwestern motorway interchanges within a short drive of the property. One is accessed directly off Patiki Rd taking traffic further west or north and the other, from adjoining Rosebank Road, provides easy access to the Auckland CBD, Ports of Auckland and State Highway One."

Sunil Bhana of Bayleys.

Houlker says the commercial and industrial area surrounding the property has become a sought after business location due to this excellent motorway access. "Future roading improvements such as the Western Ring Road from Manukau and the airport, which will connect with the northwestern motorway via the Waterview underground connection, will further enhance this."

The Rosebank Rd area recorded the lowest vacancy rate of Auckland's main industrial precincts surveyed by Bayleys Research earlier this year, at 1.7 per cent..The overall rate for Auckland was 3.6 per cent.

"This underlines just how strong tenant demand is in this tightly held precinct which bodes well for a future redevelopment of the Patiki Rd site," says Bhana.