NRC chairman Bill Shepherd said the council was looking to "rationalise property interests".
"Over the years there's been times when building owners have said they wanted to freehold certain property so they could make further investment and previous councils have decided not to," Mr Shepherd said.
"Now we're trying to get out of the way of the private sector so they can get on with those investments."
The site would be the second piece of land the regional council had sold off in the area recently.
Last month, the council announced it had sold the 4350sq m site, the former Mitsubishi car yard just across the road from the Toyota site, between Reyburn and Lower Dent streets for $2.6 million.
Buyers Reyburn Whangarei planned to put a $5.6 million medical centre on the site. The company is planning a two-stage development, aiming to begin construction of the first $5.6 million stage, the medical centre, in August and have it finished early next year.
Mr Shepherd said the sales were not a matter of "selling off the family silver".
"We put the money back into our property investment fund ... Some of the returns are invested in economic development, most is used to subsidise rates."
The site now up for grabs comprised two separate titles and was being sold via an expressions of interest process, closing June 28.
The section had sat largely disused since Toyota relocated in July 2014.
The rear site houses a two-storey 1600sq m building owned by Mr Anderson comprising workshop space, a parts store, offices and a showroom as well as a vehicle wash area and grooming room.
Colliers' broker Jimmy O'Brien said business 2-zoned freehold sites were rare as council leasehold land was rife in the area. He said the properties were "ripe for redevelopment".
The site was across the road from the so-called "Hihiaua precinct", the area south-west of Reyburn St on the peninsula, which the district council hoped to mould into a mixed use residential area over time via a strategic plan change.
