Roading project a commercial deal clincher

The Produce Company is leasing the old cheese factory site at 25-27 Hannigan Drive in Mt Wellington.

Jones Lang LaSalle credits the progress of the $1.5 billion Auckland Manukau Eastern Transport Initiative (Ameti) roading project with being a deal-maker for a significant Mt Wellington commercial factory lease.

"The 5367sq m property at 25-27 Hannigan Drive was initially facing the prospect of becoming a brownfield development site," says Ben Pilley, associate director of industrial sales and leasing for Jones Lang LaSalle, who introduced The Produce Company to the factory site with colleagues Chris Harding and Scott Bishop.

"However, with the continuation of the Ameti project, the building was seen as a near-perfect solution for The Produce Company, a premium food producer, which was secured as a new tenant taking on a 10-year lease.

"When we approached The Produce Company, they recognised the potential of the site as well as its location in relation to the area's transportation links. The initial part of the Ameti project is scheduled to reach Fraser Rd and Morrin Rd junction just off the old Panmure roundabout in December. This will significantly reduce the driving time from Hannigan Drive to the State Highway One motorway links and will allow the Panmure and Mt Wellington areas to really flourish commercially."

The property is about 15km southeast of Auckland's CBD with access ramps to SH1 and the southeastern arterial about 7km from Hannigan Drive.

The main aim of Ameti is to ease traffic across Panmure, Mt Wellington, Pakuranga, Howick and Botany which now have some of the highest traffic flows, highest proportions of freight traffic, and greatest levels of congestion anywhere in the country.

After the completion of the entire Ameti Phase One project next year, on which the majority of the work is being done by Fletcher Construction, the roadway will carry 20,000 vehicles a day, including 2400 trucks. The highway is expected to reduce traffic on Mt Wellington Highway and Jellicoe Rd by 40 per cent and on Ellerslie Panmure Highway by a third.

"The Ameti project is seen as breathing life back into the Mt Wellington and Panmure areas," Pilley says. "The surrounding area has seen similar food-based businesses set up, including Tegel, Abe's Bagel and Bidvest, all of which will benefit from the new infrastructure."

The Hannigan Drive property, which has been on the market for five years, was formerly occupied by Fonterra and Kato Pacific and was used for the manufacture of cheese.

The 2358sq m of office, production and warehouse space leased by The Produce Company occupies a total site area of 5367sq m. The building was constructed in the early 1990s, with the ground floor featuring an open-plan reception and office area, a large staff lunchroom, laboratory and another office wing. A mezzanine level houses more offices and production areas.

A recently built warehouse at the rear of the site has a stud height of 6m to 6.9m and has specialist cold storage, freezer and production areas with a good stud height of 6.2m.

Rob McPhee, managing director of The Produce Company, says the firm was initially looking at retrofitting an existing warehouse but it was hard to get anything that suited its needs.

"Ben Pilley introduced us to the site in an area we initially thought would be too difficult for access to our customer base. However, after some investigation into the new roading infrastructure and its impact on the area, we knew this would be an excellent site to relocate to."