Motel complex gives an even bet

The Gallop Inn could be a front-runner once again. Photo / Supplied

The former Gallop Inn motel complex on a 5530sq m freehold site a short walk from the Ellerslie town centre is being offered to the market through a mortgagee sale.

"A feature of this property is its unusually large site within the city limits which is not easy to find these days - especially one that's so close to motorway on-ramps," said Wayne Muir of Barfoot & Thompson Commercial, who is marketing the property through a tender campaign closing on April 21.

"The site potentially offers a range of options from simple subdivision through to redevelopment in part or whole," Muir said. "It simply provides a lot of land and buildings within an upmarket residential area, allowing a new owner to usher in a new future for a very well established landmark."

He says the format offers eight one-bedroom units and 60 studio units of which 30 are slightly larger than the other 30. The area is about 2400sq m excluding decks and porches.

Muir said the property dates from the early 1970s and was originally built by Samco Sargeant Construction, "a builder of repute at the time".

"When it was originally developed the property was recognised as a major tourist complex and respected by the then Ellerslie community as a centrepiece for their borough," Muir said. "It catered for a wide range of travellers and particularly benefited from being close to the Ellerslie Racecourse.

"The complex offered a totally integrated facility including restaurant and kitchen, bar, accommodation, conference rooms, feature reception, extensive car parking and landscaping."

Muir said council records indicated that the Gallop Inn originally comprised 42 units.

"The current unit numbers were created by a reconfiguration perhaps dating from as early as 1994, which created four main accommodation blocks plus an administration block including the reception and service facilities."

He said the existing design would not meet the expectations of modern travellers with the various accommodation blocks separated from the service areas leaving guests "weather exposed" walking between them.

"In recent times the complex has been missed due care and attention, so the standard of facilities offered are not competitive. However, this does create an opportunity for an incoming operator to reconfigure the complex," Muir said.

"In its heyday the Gallop Inn held a tourist licence and was well patronised by the racing industry courtesy of the nearby Ellerslie Racecourse and being close to the commercial and industrial areas of Ellerslie, Penrose, Greenlane and Mt Wellington.

It is also relatively close to the Auckland CBD timewise because of access to the nearby motorway on and off ramps."

Muir said 28 Robert St is a three-minute walking distance of the Ellerslie Shopping Centre which has "awakened" and is one of the better Auckland City traditional retail strip centres containing convenience shops and many cafes, bars and restaurants. The Ellerslie Racecourse area itself has also been the site of new projects including hotels, commercial offices and healthcare facilities.

"The intense nature of these developments means sites and building of this scale are increasingly rare," Muir said.

The property's zoning is 6A which allows travellers' accommodation.

"With looming accommodation demands pending for the Rugby World Cup, some may see this as being one of the few centrally located opportunities available to cater for tourist coach loads.

"The mortgagee has a requirement to sell and this provides a genuine marketplace opportunity for buyers to obtain a large and strategically situated property with growth opportunities."

Muir said when the Gallop Inn was up and running, the Ellerslie area mainly comprised older housing, villas and early bungalows, which as time passed fell into disrepair as original owners passed and tenancies became a feature.

For a time this led to other suburbs being preferred for families which required better housing and schools.

However, over the last decade Ellerslie has been increasingly recognised as a "preferred suburb" with residential prices demonstrating strong growth and housing "tending to sell within the $500,000 to $ million range and higher".