5 William Pickering Drive
Two Albany properties, which are among the few substantial land development sites remaining on the North Shore, have been placed on the market.
The vacant buildings in the North Harbour Industrial Estate are for sale through Bayleys North Shore Commercial.
The larger of the two properties - at 5 William Pickering Drive - encompasses about 3575sq m of land with a modern 1001sq m office and warehouse building (including a large canopy), covering only around one fifth of the site.
The other property - at 9 Paul Matthews Rd - has a 315sq m two-level residential dwelling, partially converted for office use and sits in the middle of 2336sq m of land.
This currently provides a huge amount of car parking at the front and rear of the building but has potential for further development.
Bayleys North Shore Commercial director Nick Howe-Smith points out that few land development options remain on the Shore.
Hence interest is expected from developers, add-value investors and owner-occupiers.
"There is now no significant greenfield commercial and industrial land available for purchase.
"The next best option is brownfield sites, which haven't been developed to full capacity and where there is surplus land available for building on.
"These sites provide two of the best brownfield opportunities on the Shore at present - located in a popular industrial estate close to its main access point to the Upper Harbour Highway (SH18), off the end of Paul Matthews Rd.
"They should appeal to a variety of businesses looking for property to own and occupy on the Shore with the opportunity to add value and enjoy gains through redevelopment or expansion in the future.
"Alternatively, entrepreneurial investors or developers could capitalise on current strong, unsatisfied tenant demand due to historically low vacancy rates in Albany and maximise the value of these properties by further developing them."
Landscaped grounds
The property at 5 William Pickering Drive is for sale by deadline private treaty, closing July 14 unless sold earlier through negotiation, through Ashton Geissler and Matt Mimmack.
Mimmack says it has an attractive and well maintained office and warehouse building, constructed in the early 1990s by Kea Property Group, one of the North Shore's most respected developers.
"It was built to a high standard, with extensively landscaped grounds, for German multinational pharmaceutical company Shering AG, as an office and distribution centre,"
There is a two-storey office/showroom facility at the street end of the property which has about 55 m of frontage to William Pickering Drive.
The 336sq m ground floor has a tiled entranceway and showroom area, with carpeted and partitioned offices and a board room.
There is a lunchroom alongside a private rear courtyard area. A dedicated secure and cooled server room is also located on the ground floor.
The 321sq m first floor office space is heavily partitioned into numerous rooms of various sizes to accommodate its current use as a training facility, although Geissler says this could be easily reconfigured to more open plan office accommodation.
Kitchenette and bathroom facilities are located on both levels and internal finishes include suspended ceilings and a mix of inset fluorescent lighting and spotlighting, with ducted air-conditioning.
Near full height glazing to the perimeter walls provide an attractive outlook over the landscaped grounds.
The office and showroom space is linked to a 62sq m storage room, which in turn connects with a 282 sq m warehousing and inward goods facility. The warehouse provides medium stud clear span space and the inward goods area is complemented by a large, 140 sq m canopy.
This provides a covered area for the loading and unloading of trucks and containers.
Geissler says the property has 31 on-site parks not including the spaces directly beneath the canopy.
"The property's low site coverage of 20 per cent - calculated excluding the canopy and first floor offices - means it has significant expansion or redevelopment potential or alternatively it could suit a business wanting a substantial amount of yard space and/or car parking.
It could be suitable for a variety of activities including office/warehouse, churches or education."
Strategic position
The property is located towards the southern end of William Pickering Drive, a main arterial thoroughfare linking Rosedale Rd to Bush Rd and less than one kilometre from the Upper Harbour Motorway interchange.
The nearby property at 9 Paul Matthews Rd is for sale by tender, closing July 7 (unless sold earlier by negotiation), through Nick Howe Smith, Ranjan Unka, and Alex Strever.
The rectangular shaped site has about 30 metres of frontage to Paul Matthews Rd and an average depth of close to 78 metres.
"The site slopes slightly upwards towards the western boundary and the front of the site faces northwards," says Unka. "This means any potential redevelopment of the property could ensure a north-easterly aspect for its buildings."
The existing residential-style building was the former sizeable home of the original landowner, Paul Matthews, who the road is named after, and has been used as serviced offices for many years with a residential flat on the lower level.
It comprises nine rooms, three bathrooms plus the one-bedroom flat and garage below. Internally the property provides reasonable quality character offices with polished floors, good natural light, a security system and ventilation," Unka says.
"However, it offers opportunities for a wide range of uses with the potential also to accommodate a childcare business, medical or other professional practices, a car sales yard or a variety of other activities, subject to obtaining the necessary consents.
"Alternatively, the existing building could be removed and the site could be redeveloped for commercial or light industrial use."
Strever says the property is strategically positioned on Paul Matthews Rd in a highly sought after location which has a mix of commercial business activities accompanied by a range of amenities including cafes, bars and restaurants which makes it an appealing place to work.
"Paul Matthews Rd also provides easy access to Auckland's motorway network via the Upper Harbour Highway and is set to benefit from the future Northern Corridor transport upgrade," he says.
The Albany City Centre, the region's commercial centre, is within five minutes' drive of both properties providing extensive amenities including the Westfield Shopping Mall, Massey University, a regional stadium and a major park-and-ride bus station.
Banks revise their forecasts against backdrop of Middle East conflict.