Bruce says No 56 Sunshine Ave has residential usage rights emanating from the three-bedroom home on site; while the smaller dwelling at 60 Sunshine has been used as an office, with light industrial activities run from the garaging space at the rear of the site.
The freehold land and buildings at both 56 and 60 are being marketed for sale at auction individually at 11am on December 6 by Bayleys Hamilton and feature in Bayleys' latest Total Property portfolio magazine.
"The house at 56 Sunshine Ave has been lived in by its current owners for 30 years; while number 56 reverted to industrial use in the 1990s and housed a welding business," says Bruce. "Both rectangular sections are 1012sq m in size — capable of sustaining warehouse, manufacturing, or engineering entities from a development perspective.
"Subject to appropriate council consenting, there is the possibility of creating a terraced strata titled-style structure on either of the sites.
"Or, they could be bought as passive investments suitable for tenanting: 56 as a residence with twin garages at the end of the driveway; 60 to the likes of an industrial entity."
Metcalfe says both properties were linked to Hamilton's thoroughbred racing scene, housing the trainers and stable hands who tended to the horses competing at Te Rapa Race Course, some 200m away.
The Hamilton Racing Club began holding races at its Te Rapa track in 1924, when the club bought 161ha of land to build a track, stabling and jockey amenities, grandstand facilities, and parking.
"We hear anecdotally that when the course was created, and for several decades after, Sunshine Ave and surrounding streets were part of the whole Hamilton Racing Club empire," Metcalfe says.
"There were stables, various ancillary training tracks, and a range of dwellings lived in by those associated with the wider racing sector. As Hamilton grew, and Te Rapa evolved into an industrial precinct, those equine activities moved to satellite Waikato towns such as Matamata, Cambridge and Morrinsville.
"Over the decades, blocks of the former equestrian activity land have been sold off, and the paddocks and handful of homes converted into industrial premises. These properties in Sunshine Avenue are virtually all that remains of that bygone era."
Under Hamilton City Council's district plan, the industrial zoning for Sunshine Ave allows for buildings and tenancies with activities based around industrial undertakings — such as warehousing, manufacturing plants, storage yards, and factories whose processing methods have limited environmental impacts.
