Decamping firm leaves space in key retail hub

Kea Campers will lease the property for up to 12 months until its new site is ready. Photo / Supplied

Kea Campers' large and prominent corner property in the heart of the Wairau Valley on the North Shore has come on to the market and will be sold by auction on September 23 through Colliers International brokers Andrew Hiskens, Josh Coburn and Matt Prentice.

The freehold 6475sq m property at 36 Hillside Rd, North Shore City, is being marketed for MCDA Holdings Limited, the company behind the New Zealand campervan and motorhome rental company.

The site has come up for sale because Kea, which has been the owner-occupier for the past eight years, has outgrown the property due to vehicle sales and fleet expansion.

Coburn says the site is one of only a handful of its type available in the city. "The corner of Hillside and Poland Roads was viewed as an ageing industrial precinct but has, almost overnight, become a regional trade and retail hub," he says.

"The renewed popularity of the location for its changing use potential, with the tightly held nature of the land in the area, means that the property offers strong potential as an income hold or for possible development."

The site is situated in a high profile and easily accessible position, with wide street frontage to both Hillside Rd and Poland Rd. The two buildings on the site offer a net lettable area of 2287sq m and an assessed annual market rental of $357,784.

Under the sale arrangements, Kea will lease the property for up to 12 months until its new property is ready.

Originally constructed as a warehouse and yard, the property has over time been redeveloped, refurbished and extended in various stages to comprise two buildings.

The first, a 1278sq m building, includes a 487sq m office and showroom across the front elevation facing the corner of Hillside Rd, constructed within what was once a warehouse. The redevelopment included a glazed facade and the construction of mezzanine offices.

The ground floor provides an open plan customer service site, an area for camper hire and a recently constructed boardroom. At the rear of the property is a refurbished 581sq m warehouse with amenities, staffroom and storage areas.

A large 210sq m canopied wash bay is a more recent addition to this area, also providing open warehouse accommodation that leads out into the 2000sq m yard.

The second building on the property offers 1220sq m of space, comprising 272sq m of offices, 120sq m of amenities and a 733sq m warehouse, as well as a 95sq m mezzanine storage area.

Ideally located for a company that provides road vehicles for visitors, the property sits one junction away from Wairau Rd and only metres further from the Tristram Ave junction of State Highway 1, providing immediate access to Auckland's CBD and beyond.

The property is zoned General Business 9 under the City of North Shore Operative District Plan. Under this zoning allowable heights are 9m within 200m of a residential zone or recreational zone, but otherwise 12m.

The land has a minimum front yard requirement of 7.5m and is not subject to any side or rear yard requirements. A 5m landscape amenity yard is required where the site abuts a residential or recreational zone, or land designated for proposed reserve or motorway purposes, or any river including a stream.

Hiskens says Kea is pragmatic about selling the property because of its expansion requirements. "This is a corner property with a holding income and excellent development potential being sold at auction by an expanding company that is moving.

It's an ideal opportunity for an owner-occupier, a private investor or developer looking to buy in into a location that is growing in popularity.

"We expect considerable interest not only from these groups but also from bigger retail chains looking to exploit the potential of the area."

Prentice says the Wairau Valley has developed from the 1960s to the 1990s into the North Shore's pre-eminent industrial location.

"Since the 1990s other uses, particularly office, showroom and retail, have come to dominate the immediately surrounding area taking advantage of increasing levels of local population and a zoning policy which encourages mixed use. This allows the buyer of this site to consider the existing opportunity to derive holding income from the property or consider a development plan in a rapidly changing area."

Prentice says that the property is surrounded by recognisable brands and is about 500m from the newly opened Pak'nSave supermarket.

"A number of retailers operate in the Wairau Valley area, including branches of Target Furniture, Super Cheap Autos, Mitre 10 Mega, Kings Plant Barn, Stationery City and Animates (previously Jansens).

"Within the Link Drive area, around one kilometre to the north, are branches of many well established chains such as PlaceMakers, Bond & Bond, Briscoes, Rebel Sports, Harvey Norman, Spotlight, Noel Lemmings and Freedom Furniture.

"Much of this change has been driven by age, pure and simple. In many cases the age of the buildings means that they are now worth less than the land, so many are being redeveloped," says Prentice, who points to a new Mitre 10 Mega store that is now operational and Bunnings Warehouse, which is looking to develop a mega store approximately 500m further along Poland Rd. "There is a lot of value to be found for the operator of a home depot store in this location," he says.

Kea Campers was launched in 1995 as a boutique campervan rental company and now operates of a fleet of more than 1200 luxury campervans, motorhomes and 4WD campers in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Namibia. The company operates from 14 purpose-built depots close to major international airports across New Zealand, Australia and southern Africa.

Kea's New Zealand fleet comprises two, four and six-berth campervans and motorhomes which have been built for comfort, safety, security and reliability. In 2006 Kea became the first New Zealand campervan manufacturer to export to Australia, sending complete motorhomes from the Kea manufacturing plant in Auckland across the Tasman.