Newmarket expansion gives considerable scope

Up for sale for the first time since two floors were added, is a substantially redeveloped five-level Newmarket office and retail building in a prime position at 435 Khyber Pass Rd.

The building, on the corner of Crowhurst St and Khyber Pass, was refitted two years ago by the Rapaki Property Group and is being sold by tender closing on December 3 through Andre Siegert, Mike Houlker and Paul Dixon, of Bayleys Auckland.

Offering 3759sq m of lettable space, the building has attracted a range of tenants. Only a retail shop of 262sq m and part of Level 3, a tenancy of 388sq m, remain vacant.

Siegert says the building is producing net annual rental income of $822,812 with the potential to increase this by about $168,000 once the balance of the space is leased.

Tenants include Energy Online, Research International, and PB (Parsons Brinckerhoff) New Zealand.

Energy Online began operations in the retail energy market nine years ago and has grown to provide energy services throughout most of the North Island. Parsons Brinckerhoff is a global transportation engineering services company with more than 100 offices and more than 12,500 employees worldwide.

Nokia has leased one of the three shops available, along with Tokyo Food Company which runs a Japan Mart outlet.

Siegert says the building has a substantial amount of parking. Of the 37 carparks available, only eight are not leased to tenants, and these could bring in around $22,000 of extra annual income.

He says the Rapaki Property Group has done a thorough job of expanding and retrofitting the property. A recent valuation report states that the building constructed in the 1980s as a two-level property with rooftop parking, now presents as a virtually new property.

The Rapaki Property Group is a privately owned company specialising in commercial property investment, management and development in New Zealand's three main centres. It began in 1990 and owns more than 30 buildings in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland.

The redevelopment included tiled lobbies, two new automatic lifts, a new external facade incorporating hush glass, a new H-Vac air-conditioning system, a heat detection system and new toilet amenities.

The parking level, which has entry via Crowhurst St, has security access and there are two staircases servicing the building. A new retail verandah with recessed lighting was also added to both street frontages.

Siegert says the building is directly opposite a modern BP Service Station on Khyber Pass and across from the 5.272ha Lion Nathan site which is slated for development by its owner AMP into a mixed-use development within the next three to five years.

"Once this site is developed, it will bring significantly more foot traffic past this building which will benefit the retail tenants on the ground floor," Siegert says. "In the meantime, the building already has a high corner profile and exposure to a large volume of traffic and is only a 10-minute drive from the central city as well as having good access to the Southern and North-Western Motorways."