Backup premises make for suite investment

The refurbished 406sq m Plan B facility is within a secure compound in an area of Mt Wellington with excellent motorway access. Photo / Supplied

Fully leased but rarely occupied, a stand-alone office building at 99 Carbine Rd in Mt Wellington is up for sale as an investment property with a new eight-year lease in place.

The modern office building is being sold by Plan B Property Holdings Ltd and tenanted by Plan B Limited, a business that offers some of the country's largest corporations a variety of contingency options in the event of something occurring that affects their day-to-day operations.

John Algie, who is marketing the property in conjunction with Bayleys Auckland colleague Sunil Bhana, says Plan B's building in Carbine Rd is one of several business recovery facilities it owns around the country.

The company is now divesting the Mt Wellington property it has held for nearly 10 years to free up capital for growth and it is one of 30 properties which will go under the hammer on Wednesday, March 31 in Bayleys central Auckland auction room as part of the agency's latest Total Property portfolio auction.

Plan B will take an eight-year leaseback over the building from settlement and with two six-year rights of renewal, this would take the final expiry date of its lease to 2030 if both renewal rights are exercised. The property will produce initial net annual rental income of $100,910, with two-yearly rent reviews.

It comprises 406sq m of office space over two levels, which is divided into four contingency suites with kitchenette facilities. The building is located on a secure site with full perimeter security fencing. There are 20 on-site parking spaces plus a back-up generator providing continued power supply.

Algie says Plan B bought and refurbished the building and has since maintained it in excellent condition in keeping with the high standard of corporate office accommodation its clients occupy elsewhere. It is one of three fully equipped standby office facilities the company operates in Auckland.

Plan B also has facilities and offices in Wellington, Hamilton and Christchurch.

As well as providing fully equipped standby office accommodation, it provides standby recovery infrastructure and facilities, managed backup services, server replication and recovery and an online crisis response service for more than 500 organisations throughout New Zealand.

The facilities can be used for any number of reasons, including building access denial, a temporary requirement for additional space, or a planned crisis simulation exercise.

The value of Plan B's building and services are exemplified by a flood caused by a contractor who severed the main air conditioning cooling system in the AMP building in the Auckland CBD.

"We were back online within an hour of activating our Plan B, taking calls and satisfying customers from Plan B's standby facility," says Craig Morrison, chief operating officer for Southern Cross Travel Insurance and Member Services, which occupies space in the AMP building. "As a result the risk we faced of losing Southern Cross customers was effectively eliminated."

Sky TV also used Plan B's building to provide additional capacity for call centre staff to take increased call volumes to maximise the return on investment from the pay-per-view screening of the Tua versus Cameron boxing match.

While the Mt Wellington property is kept in a vacant state of readiness with the latest office technology, the facility is only used a few times a year, Algie says.

"This means there is very little wear and tear on the property which makes it a very attractive proposition for a passive investor or family trust."

Bhana says the facility is located in the heart of the Mt Wellington industrial precinct on Carbine Rd which is a main road linking Waipuna Rd in the north to Panama Rd in the south.

"The site is only a very short drive away from the intersection of Carbine Rd and the South Eastern arterial route assuring easy access to the Auckland motorway system.

In addition it is close to the Sylvia Park shopping centre and its supermarkets, shops, cinemas, cafes and restaurants."

Bhana says Mt Wellington is a popular, well-established location with medium to larger warehousing, manufacturing and distribution businesses, and associated service companies, because of its central location.