Modern food grade facility

The property offers modern and highly specialised features on a flexible and low coverage site.

A food-grade manufacturing and warehouse complex formerly occupied by Fonterra and Kato Pacific Marketing at 25-27 Hannigan Drive, Mt Wellington, is being offered for sale or lease by way of expressions of interest, ideally sought by the end of this month, through David Arlidge and Bruce Webb of CBRE.

"The sale of this facility comes at a time when New Zealand food products are in high demand globally and the number of specialised food production facilities in New Zealand is increasingly limited," Arlidge says.

"This property offers modern and highly specialised features on a flexible and low coverage site, and is one of only a few facilities of this kind in Auckland. It offers considerable scope and potential for a wide range of potential occupiers at a time of real demand for such specialised premises."

Arlidge says a purchaser could begin food production operations immediately in the "ready-to-use facility" or could spend time developing the property further.

"There has never been a better time to snap up a complex of this type, in a growth location at a time when New Zealand exports to the rest of the world are being given a high priority on the national agenda."

The 2355 sq m office, production and warehouse facility occupies a total site area of 5367 sq m.

The property was constructed in the early 1990s, with the ground floor features an open plan reception and office area, a large staff lunch room, laboratory and another office wing. A mezzanine level houses more offices, red line and production areas.

A recently-constructed modern warehouse on the rear part of the site has a stud height of 6 to 6.9 metres and has specialist cold storage, freezer and production areas with a good stud height of 6.2 metres.

The complex is fully air-conditioned and has full fire prevention and security, to ensure that the building is safe and secure, Arlidge says.

"The property has a good office to warehouse/coolstore ratio of 28.74 per cent. In addition, the laboratory is a key feature of the facility, and could be used to create, test and develop new food products."

"It could therefore be an ideal home for a new business getting into the food production industry. For a potential tenant, the inclusion of the landlord's chattel in this arrangement - including air conditioning, refrigeration plants, compressed air, air filtration and extraction, hot water boiler, fume hoods and racking - means a considerable capital saving by using the equipment already at the premises."

Arlidge says the specialised features of the property would be extremely expensive to replicate and the sale offers a tremendous opportunity for any company looking to find the right premises to purchase or lease in the food production industry. "It's a hot commodity in an increasingly limited supply market."

Webb says that with low site coverage of 44.70 per cent, the property has a significant component of vacant expansion land.

"This opens up several opportunities for potential occupiers, including the options of expanding or adding to the existing structures, or selling off excess land."

Webb says previous tenants Fonterra and Kato both used the site to produce high quality New Zealand foodstuffs.

"Tenants of this quality and requirement demonstrate the facility's value for food production companies, making the offering a very attractive option for similar businesses," he says.

Within the wider precinct there are a number of similar food grade and cold storage facilities, including Tegel Foods, Auckland Bakeries, and Abe's Real Food Company.

"Rather than being an isolated food production facility, the Hannigan Drive property allows tenants to be part of a community precinct of similar business and facilities, adding to its appeal to businesses looking for like-minded neighbours in a similar industry".

The property is about 15 kilometres southeast of Auckland's CBD with access ramps to the southern State Highway One motorway and the southeastern arterial seven kilometres from Hannigan Drive.

Webb says that the site meets all the needs of a food production business.

"There has never been a better time to get into this location. Mt Wellington is situated at one of the narrowest points of Auckland's isthmus, with excellent infrastructure including road and rail services. And once the nearby Panmure Transportation Plan is completed, access to the Mt Wellington and Hannigan Drive precinct will be further enhanced."