Big is good when the rent's going up

Home-improvement chain Mitre 10 leases this high-profile space at 46-48 View Rd in Wairau Valley. Photo / Supplied

The national support centre of Mitre 10 in Wairau Valley on Auckland's North Shore is up for sale, with rental growth set to match consumer price index figures next year.

Situated at 46-48 View Rd in the popular Wairau Valley industrial area, the chain's support centre encompasses 3602sq m of modern office and warehouse space on a high-profile, elevated 6892sq m site with 95 on-site parking spaces.

The property is being marketed by Ranjan Unka, Greg Healey and Daryl Devereux of Bayleys North Shore Commercial and is to be sold by deadline private treaty, with offers closing on September 23.

Unka says the vendor, Caniwi Capital Partners, which specialises in commercial property investments and bought the property last September, is selling it to concentrate on larger projects.

He said Mitre 10 had been in the area for the best part of two decades. It was previously on an adjacent site, which it sold when it outgrew the building as the co-operative grew into a larger network around the country.

Mitre 10 then moved next door to a building occupied previously by publisher Penguin books, expanding the premises on the 1200sq m of surplus land at the rear and spending a substantial amount on its fit-out.

The property had been purpose-built for Penguin in 1978 to a high standard for that era.

Under Mitre 10's occupancy, the property now comprises a large modern office building combined with a warehouse complex. The buildings received a major upgrade of their exteriors and infrastructures in 2005, along with a refurbishment of the interiors.

Their areas encompass ground floor offices and amenities of 1749sq m, mezzanine floor office and amenities of 1141sq m, plus 463sq m of warehousing, including a print room, and 64sq m of associated offices.

Mitre 10 has a lease until 2015, with two further five-year rights of renewal, including a 12-month notice period from the tenant of intention to renew. The property is producing net annual rental income of $604,473 and this is likely to increase by about $40,000 in September next year on review, Unka says. The lease incorporates two-yearly rental adjustments to CPI.

"The current vendor has already benefited from last year's rent review but is passing on the next increase to a new purchaser," says Unka.

He says Mitre 10 likes the area for a variety of reasons, one being that the location offers a rental rate which gives the property one of the lowest costs of occupation for a New Zealand head office operation in Auckland.

"The property is strategically positioned on an elevated corner on the north side of View Rd within the Wairau Valley industrial area, with the Tristram Ave motorway interchange within a kilometre away.

"There are good transport links to both Auckland city and the greater North Shore. All this makes the property highly accessible."

Unka says Mitre 10 is the biggest and best-known network of home improvement stores in New Zealand.