Former Whangarei chief post office for sale

The property at 16 Rathbone St, Whangarei, is home to major national tenants.

Whangarei's former chief post office building is for sale offering net annual income of more than $530,000 from established tenants.

The 4122sq m building is on a large (3245sq m) site at 16 Rathbone St, in the heart of the city's central business district.

It is being offered for sale by negotiation through Ross Blomfiled, Bayleys Whangarei and James Chan of Bayleys' International Division.

"The property has a massive corner profile in a sought-after location in Whangarei's main street; it's occupied by major national tenants such as ANZ Bank, Kiwibank/NZ Post, AA and Hallensteins," says Blomfield.

Chan says the offering provides an opportunity to secure a very well located and tenanted property which will provide a higher income yield than for a property with similar attributes in a metropolitan location.

"It benefits from substantial frontage to three of central Whangarei's main streets with potential to further develop the under-utilised large site, should there be future tenant demand for this."

The property has its main frontage to Rathbone St of about 60 metres, a similar frontage to James St and about 53m to Roberts St. It was constructed in the mid-1960s, providing premises solely for Post Office use, including office accommodation.

A two-storey annex on the James St side was built in the mid-1970s to provide additional accommodation. Now occupied by the NZ Automobile Association (AA), this part of the property also offers open car parking for 34 vehicles at its street entranceway, with further parallel public parking on the Rathbone St frontage.

In the mid-1990s, the first floor and part of the ground floor were refurbished and in 2004 major alterations were completed, reconfiguring the original post box and mail-sorting room to provide modern retail accommodation.

Chan says Post Office premises of the era which were solidly built, predominantly of concrete. This one has an Initial Evaluation Procedure (IEP) seismic assessment of 100 per cent of New Building Standard.

"It provides ground floor retailing with office accommodation above which is predominantly vacant, so there is opportunity to add additional rental income."

Bloomfield says the ANZ is the largest tenant, occupying 1159sq m of ground and first floor space on the corner of Rathbone and Robert Streets. Along the Rathbone St frontage are three more retail tenancies, with Hallensteins located next to the bank. The adjoining tenancy has been divided into two, with Addiction Hair a sub-tenant and the remaining 291sq m offering a leasing opportunity for the new owner having recently been vacated by JK Kids. NZ Post/Kiwibank is the property's second largest tenant occupying 407sq m of space on Rathbone St, incorporating postal box and delivery areas at the rear.

It is in the heart of the CBD, an area in demand from retailers, and Bloomfield points out that surrounding occupiers include a large number of national brands as well as cafes, bars and a bakery and the location lies between Whangarei's second and third-highest recorded points of pedestrian flow.