Walk straight in and set up in Newmarket or Queen St

Level 9 at the 175 Queen St building (left) and the two units at 3A Short St, Newmarket, are on the market. Photo / Supplied

Two Newmarket units set up as a Korean restaurant and a vacant office floor in the heart of the Auckland CBD are being marketed as possible walk-in and set-up business opportunities.

The three vacant strata unit properties will be auctioned by CBRE at the end of the month on March 30 as part of the CB Richard Ellis's latest Going Going Gone campaign and could offer buyers a chance to land a bargain, says Dominic Ong, private client group director.

Ong, along with Colin Stewart CBRE's investment sales associate director, is selling a 429sq m freehold strata office floor and one carpark at 175 Queen St - one of Auckland's prominent CBD towers.

Stewart says the travel agency tenant is quitting the building to relocate to new premises and the owner is cutting his losses. The floor on level 9 will be auctioned with vacant possession on March 30 and Ong says a new owner may pick up a bargain.

"This is a well appointed office in a 14-storey office building that has good natural light, city views, aesthetic appeal and a strategic position on Queen St.

"Internal subdivision of level 9 has left three partitioned offices with a boardroom and separate but smaller meeting room. In addition, there is a small filing room."

Stewart says the vacant shell will suit a firm with 20-25 staff wanting a good CBD location.

Located on the corner of Queen St and Durham Lane, in the heart of Auckland's CBD, Stewart says office workers benefit from the surrounding cafe, shops and restaurants.

"The CBD has bounced back from the employment slump of the late 1980s and early 1990s to recover its position as the premier retail and commercial hub of Auckland. This recovery is evident in the low vacancy levels and strong rental rates for retail premises."

In Newmarket, two units covering 190sq m, previously used as an Asian restaurant, in the Mandalay building are being offered as a possible opportunity to carry on in the cafe/restaurant trade.

Sales broker Bryan Richardson, who is selling the property at 3A Short St with Ong, said it was operating as a Korean restaurant and after losing the tenant the owner had decided to sell. "He is determined it will go to a new owner or investor on auction day."

Richardson says the owner is willing to sell the units and everything in them if he secures a deed of assignment from the tenant for the fixtures, fittings, chattels and commercial kitchen. "It is an opportunity waiting to happen. A new owner can walk in and possibly start operating a hospitality business immediately."

Richardson says the restaurant is in Newmarket's bustling cafe precinct, close to the nearly completed Lumsden Park and its adjacent restaurants and bars. "It is well set up, modern with clean lines and is in an attractive setting."

The property is two freehold strata units of 89sq m and 101sq m and together they have a capital value of $1.2 million. They form part of the Mandalay apartments/Quest Hotel building.

Richardson says Newmarket is recognised as the country's premier shopping strip and is one of Auckland's most vibrant commercial locations.

"The success of the area is in its low vacancy rates and the significant amount of money that has been poured into new developments over recent years. There have been several new office buildings erected along Carlton Gore Rd and the Nuffield St retail precinct would be one of the best and most successful projects in the country. It has lifted Newmarket as a whole."

The area will take another step up when AMP Capital Investors secure a plan change to rezone the former Lion Nathan brewery site on the corner of Khyber Pass and Park Rds.

CBRE negotiated the sale of the 5ha site to AMP for $162 million in 2007 and it was expected shops, apartments, restaurants, cafes, bars, carparks and offices buildings would have started to come out of the ground by now.

AMP is expected to lodge a plan change application with the Auckland City Council in the next few weeks.