Value add opposite CRL station entrance

A freehold property opposite the future entranceway to the City Rail Link’s (CRL) Karangahape station is up for sale partially leased.

The offering, featured in Bayleys’ latest Total Property portfolio, comprises a two-level commercial building of about 950sq m on 460sq m of land at 16-18 Beresford Square. 

Generating rental income of $107,250 plus GST, the property is for sale by tender, closing 4pm, September 17, unless sold earlier. It is being marketed by Alan Haydock, director of Bayleys Auckland & City Fringe division, and senior broker Damien Bullick. 

“This is a big opportunity for an owner occupier, investor or developer to secure an unbeatable position in a key central city growth area,” says Haydock. “The property offers considerable add-value opportunities both in the short and medium to long term. 

“There is an immediate opportunity to increase the building’s income by leasing the vacant ground floor, which has been refurbished and provides 406sq m of accommodation with concrete and timber flooring and exposed building services.

“It benefits from about 20m of road frontage to Beresford Square and would be suitable for office, retail or showroom use. 

“Alternatively, a business could take advantage of current historically low borrowing costs to buy the building, occupy the ground floor and use the income from the upstairs tenancy to pay the mortgage.

“Longer term, the land’s City Centre zoning and its pivotal position just metres away from the CRL station entrance provides massive commercial and/or residential development potential,” Haydock says. 

Bullick says the building was built in the 1960s and the upper level has about 537sq m of lettable space, including a mezzanine, accessed by either of two stairwells at the front of the property. It benefits from plenty of natural light with floor-to-ceiling glazing on its frontage and skylights in the roof.  

The Centurian Sauna has been on this floor since 2003 and is on a four-year lease from September 2018, with the next two-yearly market rent review scheduled for September next year.

The tenant has one further four-year right of renewal but the lease can be terminated for redevelopment purposes with 24 months’ notice from September 2022 if the lease is renewed. 

Bullick says this could coincide with the scheduled 2024 completion of the CRL’s Karangahape station, whose main entrance will be near Pitt St and Beresford Square.