Major Auckland retail, office complex for sale

One of the biggest, multi-faceted shopping complexes to have been constructed in Auckland over the past five years – situated directly at the heart of a fast-emerging coastal residential suburb – has been placed on the market.

Award-winning Long Bay Village at Long Bay on Auckland’s North Shore is a major hub of commercial activity in the beach suburb on the city’s northern metropolitan boundary – situated close to a raft of social infrastructure amenities ranging from well-established schools, through to the expansive Long Bay Regional Park and Long Bay Beach and Marine Reserve.

Opened in 2019, the Long Bay Village Retail Centre portfolio encompasses 27 retail and office service tenancies within four buildings that forms part of the wider Long Bay Village.

The multitude of tenants within the Long Bay Village Retail Centre portfolio are trading in the hospitality, fashion, healthcare, fitness, food and beverage, and real estate sectors. Individual high-profile tenants within the complex include Liquorland, Jetts Fitness, the Long Bay Surf Club bar and restaurant, real estate agency Barfoot & Thompson, and Lumino dental clinic.

Anchor tenants within the greater Long Bay Village precinct – but not within the portfolio of assets for sale – include the Long Bay New World supermarket and the prominent Long Bay Medical Centre.

Combined, the Long Bay Retail Centre occupies some 3870 square metres of commercial space. The four buildings have access to shared parking for 75 vehicles in the basement and an additional 165 uncovered on-grade spaces. A central courtyard and lift to the basement car parking - also form part of the portfolio for sale.

Zoned Local Centre – Long Bay sub-precinct J under the Auckland Unitary Plan, the property is situated on either side of Te Oneroa Way. The broader Long Bay precinct zoning allows for the residential development of a master planned community hub on what was formerly greenfield land using a sustainable low-impact design approach to protect and enhance the area’s high environment values.

Designed by Architectus, Long Bay Village won the 2021 New Zealand Institute of Architects award in the planning and urban category.

Long Bay Village comprises five separate buildings.

Building one, which is not for sale in the portfolio, contains the New World supermarket and the Long Bay Medical Centre.

Buildings two and three are constructed on top of a basement car park and connected by a podium walkway and courtyard.

Building four contains a three-level mixed use structure, while building five is the showcase standalone hospitality hub located at the Northern entrance to the Village.

The Long Bay Retail Centre is now being jointly marketed for sale by deadline private treaty through Bayleys Auckland and Bayleys North Shore, with offers closing on September 30, 2021, unless sold prior. Bayleys Director of Capital Markets, Layne Harwood said that the property generates a fully leased net income of $2,042,158 per annum.

Chris Beasleigh said the 27 tenancies have leases ranging from eight to 12 years – with a weighted average lease term, by income, of 5.35 years.

“The currently vacant premises are being underwritten by the vendor for a two-year lease period at rental levels which reflect a recent valuation. The degree of that rental commitment would cease once a suitable tenant has been found for any unit,” said Beasleigh.

“The portfolio – one of the biggest such neighbourhood retail sites to come up for sale in New Zealand for several years – is owned by highly-experienced property developer Templeton Group, who are responsible for development of the wider Long Bay residential precinct.”

The first of the buildings for sale within the Long Bay Village Retail Centre portfolio comprises two levels of strata-titled retail units fronting onto Glenvar Ridge Road and Te Oneroa Way and with a lift and stairwell to the basement car parking. The upper level sustains three retail units with access from a courtyard opposite the New World supermarket entrance.

The second of the buildings for sale are a four-storey structure with strata-titled commercial units on the ground floor and three levels of apartments above, which are not included in the offering. The ground floor provides eight tenancies, some with street frontage to Te Oneroa Way and the balance accessed directly off the interior courtyard.

The third building comprises a three-level structure with four street-facing retail units, the gymnasium on level two and commercial office space on the upper level. Rounding out the portfolio, the single level fourth building, houses Long Bay Village’s primary hospitality hub, with all tenancies featuring a mix of covered and uncovered dining areas and north-facing external seating areas.

“The vacant retail and commercial units present a substantial opportunity for an experienced commercial owner to develop their preferred retail strategy and secure appropriate tenants to build a stabilised asset,” Harwood said.

“Over the past 12-months, demand for retail property as an investment class has remained generally firm for better quality developments, in high growth locations – such as Long Bay. There is a general rarity of this asset type available, and certainly nothing of this style or quality.”

The buildings are constructed of steel framing with pre-cast concrete slab walls and display joinery that sustain high-quality tenant fitouts. Long Bay Village sits on the only commercially zoned land within the suburban precinct servicing the immediate residential population.

Michael Nees said the Long Bay Retail Centre sits within one of Auckland’s longest-planned urban residential developments, Long Bay – dating back a quarter of a century to when an Environmental Court hearing was convened in 1996. He said that some 10 years of meticulous town planning ensued - which ultimately delivered the Long Bay Structure Plan.

At the conclusion, the Long Bay Structure Plan became operative in 2011 – allowing for the development of some 360ha of greenfield land to house an estimated 7500 new residents – ranking it alongside Hobsonville Point, Millwater, and Stonefields in terms of sheer size.

Most of the housing stock in the new Long Bay precinct has been constructed over the past five years and is now approximately 60 per cent complete – with capacity for between 1500 – 2000 more homes of various types to be built in the precinct.

Reflecting the locale’s growth, a regular Market Day now operates in Long Bay Village square and other community-based events are being activated.

The availability of Long Bay Retail Centre is a prime opportunity to acquire a high quality, award winning commercial investment property on Auckland’s North Shore, said Nees.

- Article supplied by Bayleys