Investors on tap for cellar door site

Commercial property investors are about to get their fill as one of the top addresses on Auckland’s booming craft beer scene goes up for sale.

With an array of revolving beer taps for tasting or takeaway, Garage Project’s Kingsland cellar door is a landmark for beer lovers.

Housed in a former school uniform shop and factory, the multi-award-winning New Zealand brewer’s first Auckland taproom opened for business at the New North Road site in 2018.

The colourful venue is now an essential stop on the ‘Auckland Beer Mile’ linking some of the city’s hottest beer venues from Mt Eden to Morningside.

Considered one of the country’s most innovative brewers, Garage Project was founded in 2011 by brothers Ian and Pete Gillespie and Jos Ruffell, in a dilapidated service station in Wellington’s Aro Valley.

They set out to create 24 beers in 24 weeks, and many of these original beers – such as Aro Noir, Pernicious Weed and Hapi Daze – are still produced and considered classics.

Garage Project has now produced over 300 beers and is one of Australasia’s biggest independent craft breweries. It won the Deloitte Fast 50 in 2015 with over 660 percent annual growth, and distribution in New Zealand, Australia, Norway, Sweden and the US.

Garage Project came up trumps in this year’s Brewers Guild of New Zealand Awards, winning Champion Large Brewery for the second year running. It has previously been named Champion Brewery at the awards multiple times.

Its New North Road cellar door premises generate an annual net rental income of $78,959 plus outgoings and GST, on a lease that runs through to 2025 with a further four-year right of renewal. The lease agreement incorporates two-yearly CPI rent reviews and a market review at lease renewal.

The freehold land and buildings at 357 New North Road, Kingsland, Auckland, are being marketed for sale by James Were and Phil Haydock of Bayleys Auckland Central. Sale is by deadline private treaty closing on Tuesday 18 October, unless the property is sold prior.

Were said the property consisted of an approximately 368-square metre standalone building on some 422 square metres of land with four car parks.

“Constructed in the mid-1960s, this extensively refurbished, well-presented property encompasses a welcoming retail/showroom area to the front, with mezzanine office space above which serves as Garage Project’s Auckland headquarters.

“Behind this, a converted warehouse area houses a tasting room and chiller. The function space known as The Back Room is well used for intimate gatherings, tastings and meetings with a point of difference.

“The warehouse benefits from a loading dock which is accessed via a driveway along the side of the site,” said Were.

Less than four kilometres from Auckland’s CBD, the site lies in the heart of a fast-growing and vibrant part of the city-fringe.

“As part of the Auckland Beer Mile, sitting alongside the lively Kingsland Village, and a short distance from Eden Park, this is an entertainment and hospitality precinct that draws people from across the city.

“It also draws on a local catchment which is home to growing numbers of affluent young families and professional millennials,” said Were.

Haydock said the cellar door property’s brightly painted frontage gave it an eye-catching presence, capitalising fully on its exposure to New North Road – a major arterial with nearly 15,000 passing cars on an average day.

“Accessibility is a major drawcard, with Kingsland train station a short walk away and buses departing nearby for the CBD every 15 minutes. The motorway network is just a five-minute drive away,” said Haydock.

Business – Mixed Use zoning under Auckland’s unitary plan supports wide-ranging activities, from the existing food and beverage and retail, to residential and office accommodation and healthcare.

The site for sale has a maximum building height allowance of 21 metres, higher than typical for the zone.

“Underpinned by its flexible, development-friendly zoning, this area is ripe for further growth and intensification, particularly once the City Rail Link is completed.

“Being leased to an established and much-loved Kiwi business that is heavily invested and entrenched in the property, 357 New North Road offers much to interest commercial property investors.

“The fee-simple title and flexible, intensive zoning provisions mean it also comes with considerable future development potential for buyers with an eye to the future,” Haydock said.

- Article supplied by Bayleys