Bonanza of 21 outlets in the west

Four west Auckland banks are among a number of high-profile national tenancies that will go under the hammer when 21 retail outlets in Henderson are put up for auction early next month.

They are all located in the Lincoln North shopping complex on a prime site on the corner of Lincoln Rd and Universal Drive. The retail outlets are being marketed by James Chan and Cameron Melhuish, of Bayleys Auckland, and will be offered for sale individually in Bayleys' Auckland auction rooms on July 8.

The properties' net annual incomes range from $6865 for a 10sq m nail bar to $288,193 for a 1210sq m outlet occupied by Animates, which has 15 pet stores throughout New Zealand with many, including the Lincoln North outlet, offering veterinarian services.

Chan says with a number of the offerings having net income of less than $50,000 per annum, the auction will give smaller investors a real opportunity to enter the commercial property market at a very affordable level.

"The properties are also expected to sell at attractive returns that are ahead of what is obtainable from bank deposits these days."

Chan says most of the leases are between six and nine years, with the longest being a 12-year lease to Restaurant Brands that runs to 2018 for a 258sq m KFC restaurant with its own standalone drive-through entrance on the corner of the site. This is producing net annual income of $163,475 plus GST.

Three bank properties occupied by the ANZ, Westpac and BNZ have nine-year leases running until late 2015 or early 2016 with net annual income ranging from $125,979 to $198,368. There is also a Kiwibank and NZ Post outlet producing a net return of $56,961 per annum from a five-year lease.

Many of the leases were entered into in 2006 and 2007 when the convenience centre, which has a food, banking and service focus, was completed.

The property was previously home to a PAK'nSAVE supermarket which relocated to one of the Southern Hemisphere's largest supermarket sites directly opposite, on Universal Drive. This also houses a very large carparking area and one of New Zealand's biggest and busiest Mitre 10 Mega stores.

The former supermarket was redeveloped into 5256sq m of high stud space, with some mezzanine levels, catering predominantly for larger-format retailers. Its tenants comprise Animates, Super Cheap Autos, Avantiplus Cycles, childhood education provider Lollipops and Westpac and ANZ.

A 2175sq m building was redeveloped to the east of this block and accommodates a wide variety of smaller tenancies. In addition to the two other banks, these include a TAB, a Video Ezy shop and a number of food outlets whose occupants include Pizza Hut (Restaurant Brands), Columbus Coffee, Subway and Dunkin' Donuts.

Shop frontages have full-height glazing with aluminium window joinery and double-entry doors to all tenancies. Pedestrian canopies run outside the shop frontages and there is a glazed canopy forming an atrium between the two blocks.

The 1.67ha site on which the Lincoln North Shore Shopping Centre is located has wide frontage and substantial exposure to both Lincoln Rd and Universal Drive and two of west Auckland's busiest arterials.

There are entrances and exits to the centre from both roads which feed into a substantial parking area for 236 cars. The buildings wrap around the customer carparking in an L shape, with a sealed lane towards the rear of the site providing access to loading bays and staff carparking.

Lincoln Rd is a major arterial extending from Great North Rd in the south to the Northwestern SH16 motorway system in the north.

Melhuish says over recent years, the heavy traffic flows that Lincoln Rd carries, in conjunction with a sizeable and growing residential population, has prompted significant retail and commercial office development in this location. Vehicle numbers using Lincoln Rd are reported to be 47,250 cars per day on average.

In addition to being among the largest for each company, the neighbouring Mitre 10 Mega and PAK'nSAVE stores are also reported to be top trading outlets, says Melhuish, which along with the Lincoln North Shore Shopping Centre attracts significant patronage from the Greater Auckland area.

"Further along, Lincoln Rd continues to be dominated by major brands which have also recognised this as a strategic location and include Benchmark Building Supplies, The Warehouse, Noel Leeming and Spotlight.

"The fact that Lincoln North Shopping Centre has attracted numerous well-known national and international tenants and is fully occupied is testament to the strength of the location and calibre of the finished product which includes landscaped areas throughout the site."

Chan says most of the leases have two-yearly rent reviews and various rent reviews completed over recent months have shown good overall rental growth.