Tokoroa's tallest building is for sale

The property at 29-31 Bridge St was constructed in 1975 for State Insurance. Photo / Supplied

Tokoroa's tallest commercial building is for sale with a flexible Town Centre zoning offering multiple future use options.

The 1910sq m building on a 454sq m site is in two titles at 29-31 Bridge St and is being offered with vacant possession through agent Millie Liang, of Bayleys' International Division, and Mike Swanson of Bayleys Waikato.

Featured in the agency's first Total Property commercial and industrial portfolio for 2018, the property is for sale by negotiation.

Originally constructed in 1975 for State Insurance and occupied more recently by Waiariki Institute of Technology, it has four levels of office space plus basement parking for 11 cars accessed from a rear service lane.

Bridge St, Tokoroa's main street, is characterised by a planted median strip of mature deciduous trees and accommodates a wide range of national and local tenants. The building at 29-31 Bridge St is close to the intersection with State Highway 1 providing easy motorway access and is next to BNZ's main Tokoroa branch, with other nearby banks including ANZ, Kiwi Bank and Westpac.

Millie Liang says the property's Business Town Centre zoning provides a high level of flexibility, permitting a wide range of potential commercial uses plus residential above ground floor level. "At present there are only two motels, one hospital and one retirement village in Tokoroa, so the building could be converted to provide accommodation for the visitor or heathcare sectors," she says.

"Like all provincial towns, Tokoroa is having to look at alternative uses for larger, former office buildings and the Town Centre zoning also encourages residential redevelopment which helps increase customer numbers for CBD businesses. Another option could therefore be to subdivide the ground floor into retail and/or food and beverage tenancies and convert the three levels above to residential accommodation."

Tokoroa is the largest town in the South Waikato District and is home to over 13,000 people.

It is 30 km southwest of Rotorua, and midway between Taupo and Hamilton on SH1. Its appeal as a stopping off point for passing travellers is enhanced by the Tokoroa CBD's location beside the motorway and the fact that increasing numbers of vehicles are now taking the Taupo SH1 bypass rather than stopping there, says Millie Liang.

She says the South Waikato District Council has embarked on an initial $2.6m CBD upgrade project to increase Tokoroa's appeal to visitors. The upgrade is focused on Leith Place, a popular shopping street one back from SH1, and which runs off the eastern end of Bridge St, close to the property for sale.

The project's objective is to make Leith Place a visually interesting and welcoming shop window to Tokoroa to entice more travellers to leave SH1.