Panmure's long-established retail centre is just to the south; the residential suburb of Pt England is to the east; Glen Innes to the north and Stonefields/Mt Wellington to the west.
The high-stud units within the 71 Jellicoe Rd site are being jointly marketed for sale or lease through Bayleys Auckland and Barfoot and Thompson. They feature in Bayleys' latest Total Property portfolio magazine.
Bayleys salespeople Chris Beasleigh and Eddie Zhong are seeking lease tenants able to offer, what they term, "a completely different customer experience from the retail centres currently in existence in Glen Innes and Panmure".
Beasleigh says the layout and elongated rectangular format of the units favour hospitality operations, as does the surrounding light industrial tenancies of the immediate neighbourhood and demographic of nearby suburbs.
"It all adds up to an exciting new 'hub style precinct', with a sound economic base," Beasleigh says.
"Here we have premises with a hint of 'industrial grunge' to their decor and fit-out. The a tenant mix will cater for diverse clientele, ranging from blue-collar workers during the day — through to patrons and customers in the middle to upper-middle socio-economic brackets in the evenings and on the weekends."
For a comparison, Beasleigh points to the successful Orakei Bay Village, which has a range of retail tenancies — including the high-end Farro supermarket and craft beer bar/restaurant Beer Brothers sitting alongside a mix of boutique home-design and fashion outlets. "This style of operation traces its genesis to the Auckland City Works depot opposite Sky City," he points out.
"Over the past five years, the number and variety of (these) tenancies has grown incredibly — to the point the destination now has a range of design/marketing/advertising commercial tenants, three separate cafe eateries, three hair and beauty salon treatment studios, a bagel bakery, a casual dining restaurant, a florist, and a craft beer bar," he adds.
"It's easy to see this tenant mix being replicated at 71 Jellicoe Rd, which is poised to capitalise on high traffic follow, combined with a clientele — within a 5km radius — not currently being adequately served.
"That's an attractive target market in population terms."
Zhong says the units for sale are split into four blocks — with communal parking for about 89 vehicles.
He says the hub will have three separate vehicle entrance/exit points off Jellicoe Rd, while the rear of the site bordered the Eastern Line trunk of the Auckland commuter rail network.
The single-storey units have concrete slab walls on structural steel frames with Coloursteel long-run roofing.
Right-angled glass canopies are being installed along the full length of all four blocks, offering shade and element protection to the pedestrian walkways and outdoor seating areas in front of the units underneath.
"From an investment perspective, there's just nothing like this being built in the area. The fact that five units have sold 'off plan' underpins the appetite for new-build premises in this part of the city," Zhong says.
"There's even potential for adjacent units to be reconfigured into bespoke single-use spaces, if interest is confirmed early enough in the construction timeline."
Zhong says each individual unit is designed with its own staff amenities and building of the hub is scheduled to begin in the middle of this year and be completed in early 2019.
The Jellicoe Rd venture is being constructed by Auckland property development firm Northbridge Properties.
This company has had commercial projects on the North Shore (Apollo Drive, Triton Drive, Mairangi Bay and Rosedale Rd).
It has also begun work on a 30-unit retail project in Takanini, of which 60 per cent are pre-sold.
