An artist's impression of Southpark's new development designed for Dairy Nutraceuticals (DNL) at 118A Hugo Johnson Drive in Penrose, Auckland.
Southpark Corporation is developing $98 million of commercial property with a further 50,000 square metres of industrial buildings under construction in Auckland and Christchurch following several recently-completed projects.
Scott Campbell, Southpark's General Manager of Development and Property Assets, says the company has attracted several high-calibre international and national tenants into its portfolio including Dairy Nutraceuticals, Australian-based OI Glass and Christchurch-based Sorted Logistics.
Campbell says the company's development capacity has increased in the past 12 months due to several factors including low vacancy rates, land readiness and a renewed focus on contracting principles and customer service.
Much of the company's current activity is taking place on three strategic land holdings in Mt Wellington and Penrose - within Auckland's most popular and centrally-located industrial area with Southpark holding nearly 15ha of land across three sites on Great South Rd and Hugo Johnson Drive.
"We hold the biggest portion of development land left in Mt Wellington and Penrose, and have been getting very high levels of inquiry from occupiers for the facilities we're constructing on these sites," Campbell says.
At 118A Hugo Johnson Drive in Penrose, Dairy Nutraceuticals (DNL) has signed an eight-year lease for a new development on the old Southdown Freezing works site.
DNL will locate a new critical-hygiene milk powder blending plant at the property, which will comprise a warehouse of 6500sq m and around 650sq m of offices. The company will undertake manufacturing and distribution operations from the new, state-of-the-art facility.
The building will also have several environmentally-sustainable features including LED lighting and will incorporate some existing structures and materials from the site.
"This will be an impressive new facility with several green features," Campbell says. "We're confident that DNL will be proud to welcome its customers to the new building and its staff will love working there."
The property is across the road from a facility Southpark is building for Decortech, a Kiwi business which manufactures decorative, acoustic and fire-retardant decorative wall and ceiling panels.
It is being constructed on a large 6ha brownfield development site in a location which will benefit from the proposed East-West Connection roading project, says Campbell.
At 829 Great South Rd, Southpark is constructing a 4950sq m uncommitted facility, designed by Eclipse Architecture and managed by RDT Pacific. The new building, which is due to be completed in the middle of 2017, is next to Southpark's recently-completed, award winning facility for Ideal Electrical.
The new complex will have a 4400sq m warehouse with a 10m stud and office space of 550sq m along with large yard and drive-around access with space for truckmanoeuvring. It also incorporates several environmentally-sustainable features including LED lighting and electric car charging facilities. Existing structures and materials on the site are also being used in the build.
"This will be a striking, sustainable facility that will give a new occupier huge exposure to Great South Rd," Campbell says.
More projects are in the pipeline with Southpark owning 3.5ha of adjoining development land.
"There is a critical scarcity of high-quality industrial premises available for lease in Mt Wellington and Penrose. This has prompted us to press ahead with uncommitted developments - and the fact that we are securing high-calibre tenants like DNL proves that it's a strategy that's working in the current high-demand environment."
At 69 Captain Springs Rd in Onehunga, Southpark is welcoming OI Glass into its 33,000sq m building previously known as the Seamount building. The "huge" distribution facility features drive around access and excellent links to main arterial routes, says Campbell.
In Christchurch, local business Sorted Logistics has signed up for a new design-build facility on Southpark-owned land at Waterloo Business Park. The 12,300sqm facility will be completed in two stages by August 2017.
Sorted, which provides transport, storage and distribution solutions nationally, plans to consolidate its entire operations at the new 12,300sq m facility and will shift to Waterloo next year from nine separate sites.
The new facility will include highly flexible dual-sided loading capability, a minimum 10-metre high stud (rising to 13.5m), state-of-the-art narrow-aisle racking and LED lighting. Aggregate from the site will be recycled into the construction.
Southpark Corporation has also recently completed a new 7500sq m facility for NZX-listed Fliway Logistics at Waterloo Business Park.
Southpark's development pipeline is adding around $120-$150m of assets a year into its portfolio, prompting the company to boost its property management function.
Ben Phibbs has joined Southpark's Auckland property team, coming from previous roles at CBRE and Auckland International Airport; while Lissa Birse has joined Southpark as Development Manager based in Christchurch, transferring from Waterloo Business Park.