Red Elephant building for sale

A prime commercial building occupying a prominent corner position on Khyber Pass Road in central Auckland is for sale.

“The location of this property will appeal to a variety of buyer groups,” says Barfoot & Thompson Commercial agent John Stringer, who along with colleague Jack Hu, is marketing 195 Khyber Pass Road for sale by tender closing August 12.

Stringer says the 1,246sqm site has a road frontage of approximately 31 metres plus secondary access provided by Severn Street, and enjoys significant exposure to the southern motorway.

With a total gross floor area of 2,334sqm, the property is occupied by a five-level office, including two restaurant tenancies on the ground floor, two upper levels of office accommodation and two basement car park levels providing 75 car parks.

“Khyber Pass is a major inner city arterial adjoining Newmarket with Grafton, Newton and Mt Eden plus the site has quick access to the on and off ramps of the southern motorway section of State Highway 1," Stringer says.

“The property has resource consent for three additional floors and to convert the existing floors into student accommodation and residential occupation."

The property is close to the University of Auckland, Auckland University of Technology and ACG and in zone for Auckland Grammar School. It is zoned Business – Mixed Use, which provides for residential activity as well as predominantly smaller scale commercial activity.

The building is currently 100 percent leased and provides a net passing income of $626,736. Tenants include the Red Elephant Thai restaurant, which was established in 1988, and the Fat Dragon restaurant, which has been operating from the location since 2017.

Chongqing Reflexology operates from the entire second floor of the building with fitout to a very high standard providing a range of massage and reflexology services. Level 3 is occupied by several smaller office tenancies with shared kitchen facilities.

Stringer says that the Auckland Grammar zone location, together with the close proximity to the new university precinct, Auckland Hospital, Auckland Domain and Newmarket, underpin the strength of the location.

In the nearby suburb of Mt Eden, is another building for sale, this time with vacant possession.

The property consists of a large warehouse office building located within a Freehold unit titled land parcel in the inner-city fringe. “The two level improvements provide high stud warehousing with drive in access and attractive office space” says Cam Paterson, who is marketing the property at 45E Normanby Road, Mt Eden, for sale by deadline private treaty closing August 26.

With a footprint area of 426sqm and a total area of 692sqm, the building sits on an elevated site, and has a mainly flat contour which slightly falls way to the north.

“There is access to the property from the shared right of way,” Paterson says. “The lower level of 426sqm has roller door access with high stud warehouse and office, while the upper level of 266sqm is tastefully fitout including a separate kitchen and toilet amenities which can all be easily integrated with the lower level."

There are six car parks at the front of the building and additional car parking in front of the roller door.

“The property is in an established city fringe location that is characterised by a mixture of commercial showroom, office and warehouse buildings”, says Paterson.

“It’s situated on the eastern side of Normanby Road and is just minutes from main arterial routes such as Mount Eden Road, Khyber Pass Road and the southern motorway on/off ramps.

"The property is surrounded with boutique and trade retail, auction house and workshops, indicating suitability for businesses servicing the inner city or destination retail targeting the surrounding residential suburbs.”

45E Normanby Road, Mt Eden, is for sale by deadline private treaty closing August 26. Photo / Supplied

Recently the construction of apartments in the area has been prominent, taking advantage of the favourable Mixed Use zoning, proximity to public transport and Grammar School zoning.

“The elimination of smaller commercial buildings has been common place in Auckland's city fringe. This reduction is due to increased height potential and housing values favouring multiple level apartment developments,” he says.

“The reduction and trend toward more valuable usage has resulted in a shortage of quality warehouse offerings for businesses which need to be near the CBD.”