Piston forge now a classy showroom

The 1920s building at 65-73 Parnell Rise now hosts the Kohler showroom. Photo / Supplied

One of Parnell's most recognised older buildings, housing the showroom of bathroom manufacturer Kohler and other tenants, is for sale after a multimillion-dollar renovation.

The 1920s three-storey former heavy manufacturing and warehouse building at 65-73 Parnell Rise was gutted and converted to showroom and office space with a 35-bay car park building added.

Lake Gardens, the company of owners Gary Cheyne and Brett Smithies, is selling to move on to new projects.

"It's been a labour of love converting an internal mish-mash that had a 1970s-style upgrade into a sophisticated and modern commercial property, while retaining much of the property's character," says Cheyne.

"When we sandblasted the interior we came across the building's original signage. It was owned and operated by Johnson & Sons, who manufactured hammer forged piston rings. We kept the signage as an integral part of the property's history."

The mixed-use zoned property opposite a park is now split into four character showroom and office tenancies over 1907sq m, with elevated ceilings, exposed brick walls and concrete columns and beams. Sitting alongside is a parking building that can possibly be further developed.

CB Richard Ellis brokers Jonathan Ogg and Colin Stewart are marketing the building on a 1338sq m site in two titles for sale by private treaty closing on March 25.

"This is a high-profile property, with an iconic building that stretches around Parnell Rise, Mutu St and Carlaw Park Ave," says Ogg.

"In a market short on quality, this north-facing property for sale in one of the city's oldest and most sought-after fringe suburbs will attract a lot of attention from serious investors."

Occupying the largest of the tenancies is Kohler, the world's biggest maker of bathroom products, in about 750sq m on the second and third floors.

The showroom is Kohler's biggest in Australasia and it has an extensive fitout to display its bathroom products.

On the first floor, a boutique property and advisory company will occupy 300sq m, and Neville Newcomb Reprographics has 410sq m. The three tenancies return $676,190 a year net.

A 443sq m showroom/showroom on the ground floor is vacant and Lake Gardens will underwrite the rent on this space for two years.

Bought in 2006 by Lake Gardens from Nikon importer TA MacAlister, Cheyne says the building's history as a warehouse was evident.

"It was a typical building set up for manufacturing. Over the years various owners put in additions but nobody took out the specialised manufacturing equipment. We had to strip out the materials, such as interior walls, rings for lifting heavy goods, piping for reticulated compressed air and solid Oregon trusses to get to a base shell that could be kept and enhanced."

Lake Gardens bought the building with the express intention of converting it to a mix of office and showroom space. "All we were doing was realising what the property really was," says Cheyne.

"The first thing we did was bring the building up to Auckland City Council seismic strength requirements using a combination of sprayed concrete walls and a huge amount of steel at significant cost.

"Over next decade the council is going to require buildings to be brought up to code," he says.

"We didn't wait for the council to ask."

The building was taken back to its base and the wiring and plumbing were renewed and a power transformer and air-conditioning installed. The bathrooms are new and finished with high-quality Kohler fittings.

"Apart from creating new interior space we also improved the exterior by adding more windows and two new entrances.

"We were diligent in retaining the look of the original building, right down to matching the spandrels on the new car-park building to the original part of the building and the height of the glazing bars on the new windows to the old windows.

"Instead of putting in a glazed canopy at the rear of the building as the Auckland City Council wanted us to do, we built a heavier structure with steel RSJs exposed around the fascia edge, to keep the look and history of the building consistent."

Cheyne says a lot of thought has gone into making the building's exterior seamless. "Some parts have been expensive, but a lot of decisions on what are regarded as small items can either enhance an older building or stand out as completely separate elements.

"We were working with an existing structure with some limitations and philosophically wanted to respect the history of the old while not compromising the functionality of the new."

On the vacant site at the rear Lake Gardens built a car park with higher than normal ceilings, so each floor is on the same level as the floor it serves.

Stewart says there is scope for adding more floors to the car park.

"Lake Gardens has put enough structure into the roof and retained stairwell access for another level to be added. A new owner could possibly use the extra space for an apartment."

Cheyne says renovating the Parnell property, although expensive, has been a far more exciting project than working on a new build. "Far too many buildings throughout the city have been ruined by trying to retain a facade while building a new edifice on top.

"We have renovated in sympathy with the building's original beginnings and character. It's been a hands-on project." The pair are particularly pleased they brought the project in on budget.

The property is surrounded by commercial showroom office and retail developments, with a mix of apartments and high-quality houses.

A new office and retail complex has been built on the former Carlaw Park site, to the south of the property.

Parnell Rise is one of the earliest parts of Auckland. Shortland St was the commercial hub extending up to Parnell which carried industry and port related warehouses.

Stewart says that over the past 10 to 15 years the land these businesses sat on became too valuable for warehousing or manufacturing and most companies moved further south to make way for office and retail development or apartments.

"Parnell has gone the same way as most city-fringe suburbs - developers gentrifying buildings to suit office-based companies that don't need to be in the CBD or want to pay inner-city rents and operating expenses."

The property is on the southern side of Parnell Rise about 50m from the intersection of Stanley St and Beach Rd and is close to Parnell Village, the motorways, port and CBD. The railway line lies behind the building.