The milk distribution property at 7 Bancroft Crescent, Glendene in west Auckland.
A west Auckland property, leased by Fonterra for a milk distribution plant, is for sale by its owners, a group of investors, with some of them wanting to relinquish their share of the property to concentrate on other investments.
"The group bought the 2006-purpose built premises for New Zealand's dairy exporter in 2009," says Paddy Callesen, joint managing director of Savills who, with associate Savills' director Bruce Webb, is marketing 7 Bancroft Crescent, Glendene, with a deadline sales date of December 11.
"Now is the right time to put the property on the market as industrial property is generally doing well," Callesen says. Fonterra has three three-year leases running from January next year and is paying annual rent of $223,755 a year.
Two buildings are on the site. Fonterra's purpose-built facility is a 540.8 sq m coolstore with concrete floors, chiller panel exterior walls, a metal roof; 90 sq m of covered docks; a 1100 sq m sealed yard and 226 sq m of canopies where trucks pick up product for distribution to diaries, supermarkets and other outlets.
Canopies extend from the front of the buildings to cart docks, which have seven separate sliding doors to the front. These connect to the various secured "cages" used by milk distributors.
To the side there is a further dock. This is an entrance to a rear hallway which links behind the "cages" giving Fonterra staff access to the individual local distributors.
Numerous hoses and three phase power points are located adjacent to the various entrances to the interior.
An automatic security gate with coded entry pad is located at the driveway to the property.
The other building is a 1970s-built 107 sq m storage shed on timber piles, with metal cladding and timber floors, plus 40 sq m of decking and stairs.
The property has a right-of-way concrete drive and turnaround, extensive parking and circulation areas.
Callesen says only 25 per cent of the 4159 sq m, freehold site has been built on allowing for further development or yard-based use.
"Zoned Working Environment under the Auckland Council District Plan and Light Industrial under the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan, it has plenty of development upside," he says.
The property is situated in a small pocket of industrial development in an area known as Span Farm where sites range from small units through to several large sealed-air industrial buildings.
Webb says most of the buildings in the area have been owner-occupied. "However, this is now a tightly held location with limited industrial land available," he says.
Callesen says there is also a shortage of coolstore developments in the greater Auckland region and the Bancroft Crescent property offers an excellent investment in an affordable price range.
Although there has been a slump in dairy prices, Callesen says the property is like "white gold."
"It is a purpose-built milk depot and coolstore, with an excellent tenant, potential development land. It is also close to Great North Rd, which in turn provides connections through to the northwestern motorway via Te Atatu Rd to the west, or alternatively, through New Lynn and the Rosebank Peninsula to the east."
Nearing completion in just over a year is the western ring route which, Webb says, will open up west Auckland industrial areas even further and lift industrial property values in the west. The $2.4 billion development will provide an alternative to State Highway 1 and comprise a direct 48 kilometre highway linking west Auckland with the North Shore and Manukau.
"The reduction in travel times will make trade and logistics more attractive from a west Auckland location. With the demand for west Auckland land rising, there will be the inevitable increase in land and building prices coupled with extensive brownfield upgrades and the redevelopment of existing warehousing," Webb says.