Curve adds touch of class to corner site

Exterior of showroom office complex at 10 Mt Eden Rd on the corner of Boston Rd. Photo / Supplied

One of the city fringe's most prominent street corners is home to a new $1.8 million showroom and office complex that would suit a business wanting to lease quality premises to lift its profile.

Davies Properties is looking for a tenant for the 300sq m showroom and mezzanine office complex that wraps round the southern corner of Mt Eden and Boston Rds.

"This is a real showstopper of a building that also has affordable rent at $250 per square metre and reasonable operating expenses," says CB Richard Ellis leasing broker Lorne Somerville, who is marketing the property, at 10 Mt Eden Rd, with colleague Nick Bernecker.

The showroom has 57sq m of mezzanine of office space, a deck looking up Mt Eden Rd towards Symonds St and seven secure, on-site carparks.

Architect Philip Jones of Jones Architects says high-visibility corners are seldom available and even fewer have a curved frontage facing a prominent intersection. "We took the chance to create something special. The end building is a double-height showroom with a soaring curtain wall of clear glass."

As there are no mullions, Jones says vision from the street is unobstructed with a dramatic showcase of gently curving glass 6m by 25m. "The main display floor is raised slightly above the pavement so the showroom can easily be seen by approaching traffic," says Somerville.

"The rent has been substantially dropped in the face of the recession and credit crunch and includes a billboard at the top of the building and naming rights. The landlord is meeting the market and offering aggressive rent to the right tenant."

Bernecker says the property will appeal to either a showroom or office tenant who wants exposure to 70,000 vehicles passing the site every week. "It would be hard to find another city fringe site of this uncompromising quality and exposure."

Andy Davies bought the property three years ago through his company Davies Properties and had it earmarked for a showroom. He then worked with Jones Architects "playing around" with the design of the building.

"I wanted a big modern glass box, which is essentially what the building is."

It took more than two years for Davies Properties to obtain resource consent for the building, although it was within the Auckland City Council's zoning regulations.

Jones says the interior has an industrial edge with exposed steel structure and columns, polished concrete wall panels and glass balustrading. There was an extra $60,000 spent to get the terrazzo finish quality on the panels, which are a first for Auckland. "They use the best stone-polishing technology," he said.

"The air-conditioning, ventilation - a certified four-tier airflow system that forces air through the building to heat and cool the premises - data cabling and security continue the high standards set throughout. There are no boring ceiling grids in this project, instead a dramatic place to work during the day and by night it can be dramatically lit with special installations of high-output, energy-efficient lighting."

Somerville says the leasing market has shifted towards tenants, who have the opportunity to negotiate on their terms. "Landlords are being more flexible with rent and incentives.

"Tenants have been getting some good leasing deals in CBD fringe areas, such as Mt Eden. Buildings of CBD quality are being leased at considerably cheaper rents and tenants also benefit from lower operating expenses."

The northern end of Mt Eden has been a popular area for commercial tenants and Somerville says there are some outstanding properties for showroom and office tenants in the IT, advertising, marketing telecommunications and distribution sectors. This has not always been the case. In the early years of Mt Eden's history it was a rural locality some distance from the business and residential area centred around the Queen St valley and viewed as the best location for risky industries and institutions that contained "an element of danger."

The Colonial Ammunition Company factory and Mt Eden Prison were built before the extensive development of Mt Eden as a residential and industrial area. A quarrying industry was established around the Mt Eden volcano which kept prisoners busy providing the city with building and roading materials.

In the early years of last century a large sawmill, timber yard and joinery factory was established near the Colonial Ammunition Company. A concrete block and tile factory joined the local industrial enterprises and other industries grew and developed alongside the surrounding residential areas.

As the local population density increased the proximity of the prison and heavy industry became a bone of contention. Increasing land prices in the past two decades forced many heavy industries out and small office buildings, showrooms, warehouses and retail became the preferred business model.