Big Hawke's Bay industrial land sale

The Irongate Rd land for sale in Hastings is indicated by a blue border. Photo / Supplied

A large industrial site in Hastings will be transformed into a $30m pip fruit facility following the largest industrial land transaction in the Hawke's Bay this year.

The deal, brokered by Colliers International, comes as the region's industrial sector continues to go from strength to strength, buoyed by the thriving horticulture market.

Located in the industrial hub of Irongate, the 6.3ha property, at 22 Irongate Rd, was bought by a Hawke's Bay pip fruit company.

It is in the process of being turned into a modern pack house and 4000sq m cool store.

Colliers's broker Danny Blair says the horticultural sector is driving strong demand for industrial land.

"This has been translating into some significant deals, with the Irongate Rd sale ranking as the largest industrial land transaction in the Hawke's Bay so far in 2019.

"The company that bought the land required larger premises in order to meet export demand. This is the case for many horticultural businesses as pip fruit exports increase in volume, particularly apples, which exceeded 23,000 export containers for the first time last year."

Blair says many larger industrial users such as pack houses, cool stores and engineering facilities have been attracted to the Irongate area.

"Irongate is Hastings' newest industrial business park and is one of the best located, being only five minutes' drive south of Hastings.

"Demand remains high, which is likely to drive strong interest in two new opportunities. We are selling two large parcels of land, with areas of 5710sq m and 5500sq m, beside the new cool store and pack house on Irongate Rd.

"Both lots have prime road frontage as well as having titles available and services provided. The land will be attractive to industries that can service existing and upcoming larger occupiers in the region."

Industrial broker Rob Nankervis adds Irongate is an ideal location close to main arterial routes with easy access to both Napier and Hastings via the expressway, as well as its closeness to Napier port.

"Irongate is also close to Havelock North and Hastings for accommodation purposes, as well as near to a skilled labour pool and a large proportion of local orchardists."

Nankervis says that the face of Irongate is changing and there has been large growth over the past few years with the average price per square metre more than doubling.

"This can be put down to a number of factors. Location is certainly one, as well as the council's re-zoning of land and providing infrastructure allowing subdivisions to go ahead and businesses to own and occupy."

He says that it isn't only local businesses buying industrial land in order to expand — out-of-town businesses are also moving in.

"Hawke's Bay is an ideal option being a central North Island location with convenient access to transport routes via road, sea and air.

"The strength of Hawke's Bay's economic climate is also a key factor with investor confidence extremely high in all markets and this is forecast to continue for some time.

"For quality property, we are seeing investment yields in the 5 to 7 per cent range."