Queen St beauty with plenty of potential

Exterior night view of striking architecturally-designed six-level building for sale at 500 Queen St, Auckland CB.

A striking architecturally designed building with a secure tenant on a long term lease and located on Queen St's 'Golden Mile' is being promoted as "a strategic investment that will deliver serious long-term value."

The six level building at 500 Queen St encompasses a net letabble area of 2594 sq metres with patio and decking of 227 sq m and parking for 32 vehicles. It occupies an 1191 sq m freehold site in the "education precinct' of upper end of Queen St with vehicle access from City Rd.

"The golden opportunity of this building at 500 Queen St is its future potential due to its size, location and zoning," says Henry Barfoot of Barfoot & Thompson Commercial North Shore who, with colleague Cam Paterson, is marketing it for sale by tender closing at 3 pm on Wednesday March 18 unless it sells beforehand by negotiation.

The building is on the western side of Queen Street around 150 metres north of the intersection with Karangahape Rd.

It was originally built in 1986 by Chase Corporation and has been extensively upgraded by the current owners since its purchase in 2001 to enable its use as an educational facility.

"The current tenant, which provides industry training services with an IT focus, has operated its business on this site for over a decade, and has current lease with a final potential expiry date of September 17, 2024," Barfoot says.

"The simplicity of having a single tenant on a long lease in a central Auckland CBD building is a rare find for a property of this size."

The entire building is leased to Skills 4 Work Incorporated, also operating as the Ames IT Academy, for passing income of $422,000 pa net plus GST.

A retail tenancy of 206.8 sq m on the lower street Level 1 is currently unused and a small reception area is on the upper street Level 1A. The remainder of the building comprises one car parking level at Level 3 with five levels of office space of varying sizes.

"This property offers a solid construction with a recent independent evaluation procedure [IEP] rating giving a seismic assessment of 100 per cent New Building Standard [NBS]," says Barfoot.

"The building is highly visible from the surrounding area and it has distinctive style that sets it apart from neighbouring buildings. The quality of the original engineering and construction remains evident today."

Paterson says the nature of the property makes it an ideal fit for the location with other major educational facilities close by.

"However, the upper end of Queen St is also experiencing significant conversion of commercial space into higher value residential living, and this is a definite future option for buyers to consider," Paterson says.

"Current and proposed zoning will permit office, retail or residential usage. The building is fully equipped with fire sprinklers and air conditioning along with an emergency generator that was recently installed on the roof at a cost of $100,000.

"If a buyer had residential potential in mind, the property would certainly be ideally placed," Paterson says. "It's within walking distance to the University of Auckland, AUT and Auckland Hospital, and is even 'in zone' for both Auckland Grammar and Auckland Girls Grammar schools.

He says the building is zoned Strategic Management Area 4 under the Auckland Council District Plan and Business - City Centre in the Auckland Council Unitary Plan.

For more information on this property visit:
TrueCommercial.co.nz