Auckland Council adopted its final Future Development Strategy (FDS) at the start of November, with the high-level plan designed to guide growth in the region to ensure homes, jobs, and infrastructure are built in the right places, at the right time.
With Auckland expected to grow by half a million more residents by 2053, the FDS is the council’s high-level vision and will prioritise infrastructure spending in areas where growth is already happening, so the greatest number of people can benefit from investment.
It is also understood Council is reviewing all Future Urban-designated land across Auckland, and looking closely at the future provision of industrial land to meet demand.
This gives upside to a property in Whenuapai that has come to the market for the first time in 44 years, and is well-positioned to provide much-needed industrial capacity for West Auckland.
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The 40,974sqm property at 5 Spedding Road, Whenuapai is centrally-located within Auckland’s next big industrial precinct, and is just two properties away from the live-zoned Spedding Business Park which is now being sold down.
The subject property is currently zoned Future Urban, with a proposed future zoning designation of Business-Light Industrial.
It also has an existing Resource Consent for 20,000sqm (more or less) of yard space which could generate a passive income for an owner while waiting for a zoning change.
Council has brought forward the timing for rezoning to industrial in this area by 10-years, and has signalled a new indicative timeframe of 2025-plus, as per the FDS, according to agents marketing the Spedding Road land.
The altered timeline would enable proactive industrial developers to get a foothold in an area that is undergoing substantial investment and infrastructural work, getting ahead of the growth curve by purchasing the block now.
Wesley Gerber, Matt Clifford, and Beterly Pan of Bayleys Northwest are selling the land by deadline private treaty closing 4pm, Wednesday 6th December, unless sold prior.
Gerber said the long-time owners of the property are retiring having been owner-occupiers on the site, and readily acknowledging they are not developers.
“The baton can be passed to an experienced developer who could acquire the property to leverage the infrastructural investment already underway for consented developments nearby.
“The resource-consented yard space has ability to generate annual income of around $500,000 while waiting for an uplift in the zoning, or alternatively, a new owner could initiate a private plan change to light industrial – as has been done elsewhere in the area – if wishing to expedite development.”
Yard space is in tight supply across the Auckland region and the Spedding Road site could suit
occupiers in the west node needing to store construction materials or large vehicles, or those with equipment/vehicle hireage businesses.
“Being able to unlock around 20,000sqm of lettable yard space would be a game-changer, particularly given the development activity that is underway on the Spedding Road doorstep,” said
Gerber.
“The ability to offset capital outlay while waiting for zoning upside seldom occurs, so that’s a huge tick for the subject property.”
Whenuapai is the only greenfield growth area that’s a direct expansion of Auckland’s metropolitan limits, and is located on the Western Ring Route, with access to State Highway 16, 18 and 1.
Spedding Road is planned to be re-developed from a predominately rural road to a main arterial road supporting the planned industrial-zoned land and improving connections to state highways.
The broader area is seeing significant residential development with the intention to deliver circa-20,000 homes over the next few decades.
“This really underpins the need for more industrial development to support these emerging communities,” said Gerber.
“Changes to the way we shop have had major flow-on effects to the distribution and logistics sectors and with all the residential growth in the vicinity, Spedding Road offers a logical base for forward-thinking businesses and to keep people employed locally for operational and sustainability efficiencies.”
Article supplied by Bayleys
