High-profile Newmarket commercial property on the market

The property comprising high-profile commercial occupiers in the heart of one of Auckland’s premier shopping and entertainment precincts has been placed on the market for sale.

The prominent block at 312–330 Broadway in Newmarket sits directly opposite the new Westfield Shopping Centre and houses the big-name brands of banking giants Bank of New Zealand and Kiwibank, global sporting fashion wear retailer Adidas, and outdoor leisure pursuits store Bivouac. Combined, the four adjoining tenancies have 63.4 square metres of frontage onto Broadway.

BNZ houses one of its main Auckland Partner Centres and comprises standard bank open-plan layout, support amenities, service counters, meeting rooms and the private bank customer suite on the ground floor, with additional office space and staff amenities on the mezzanine level. Stair and lift access within the tenancy links to the basement where there is secure bank carparking.

Neighbouring Kiwibank has a brand new fit-out in its premises – with a 9.8-metre frontage onto Broadway, and a three-metre stud height internally. Kiwibank has just taken a new long-term occupation.

Adidas invested substantially on its retail fit-out – creating a showcase window fronting onto Broadway, with storage space at the rear of the ground floor, and on the mezzanine floor where staff amenities are also contained.

Bivouac also operates from a largely open-plan configuration in a minimalist display format - featuring a 7.4-metre-high stud allowing good levels of natural light from roof panelling. The store has a 12.3-metre frontage onto Broadway – with windows running full height to allow for maximum exposure to stock.

The land is zoned Business – Metropolitan Centre under the Auckland Unitary Plan. That classification allows for suburban retail and commercial hubs to be the focal points of their surrounding residential communities – supported by high-frequency transport services. Newmarket has its own rail station and is a transit stop for bus services in and out of the CBD linking destinations to the south.

The zoning also provides for a wide range of activities including commercial, leisure, high-density residential, tourist, cultural, community and civic services – with the potential for future intensification and building development.

Now the 2,082-square metre building sitting on some 1,538 square metres of leasehold land on two titles at 312–330 Broadway has been placed on the market for sale by deadline private treaty through Bayleys Auckland, with offers closing on August 6.

Bayleys Investment Team director Layne Harwood and senior salesperson Bill Lissington said the investment property benefitted from having split-risk tenancies across separate sectors of banking, sports apparel and outdoor pursuits goods. They said recent retail activity surveys indicated high levels of trading in these sectors.

“All four tenants are well known brand names in New Zealand, and as a result, sought out a property which delivered high visibility to the public in a location which has not only high foot traffic volume, but also substantial vehicle traffic flow,” Harwood said.

“Befitting the quality of the building and its position in an upmarket commercial precinct, the structure has an expected new build standard rating of 100 percent. Services include air-conditioning to all tenancies, a fire alarm system, and a hydraulic lift from the basement to all BNZ levels.”

The fully-occupied Broadway property generates annual net rental of $851,330 plus GST - at an average per square metre rate of $725 for the commercial areas. This figure includes income of $72,317 per annum from additional car park licensing. Combined, the tenancy schedule has a weighted average lease term of 5.54 years by income.

The secure basement parking for 54 staff and customer vehicles is accessed from the rear of the building off Nuffield Lane.

Lissington said the property was constructed in 2006 using precast concrete tilt-slab panelling and floors, a mix of precast concrete columns and beams along with steel columns and beams, horizontal metal profiled cladding and full-height glazing to the building frontage. Roofing is iron metal over a steel structural frame.

The property’s current ground lease is for 17 years, with renewal in 2026 and further 21-year renewal options in perpetuity. The current ground rental was last reviewed in 2019 and is reviewed every seven years, the next scheduled in 2026 and benefits the leaseholder with a restrictive review process.

“The long-term leasehold tenure provides a purchaser with an opportunity to acquire the property at a higher yield profile than normal,” Harwood said.

Newmarket borders onto three of New Zealand’s most affluent residential suburbs – Parnell, Remuera and Epsom – with easy access to the Southern Motorway.

Lissington said central Newmarket’s commercial real estate had witnessed substantial modernisation and growth over the past five years – spearheaded by the opening of the enormous $1 billion Westfield Newmarket shopping centre last year, opposite the subject property.

The mall is one of the biggest complexes of its type in the Southern Hemisphere and houses such prominent brands as David Jones, Bendon, Nespresso, Country Road, Cos, and H&M. This has benefitted as expected the trading performance significantly of the tenancies in the subject property.

Newmarket has also attracted major corporate tenancies including Mercury Energy and Watercare who both took up occupancy in substantial new-build premises. Mercury’s 13,103-square metre premises at 33 Broadway was bought in 2018 for $141.6million. Meanwhile, Auckland University is developing its new campus facilities on a 5.2-hectare site on Khyber Pass Road with a 50-year plan in place.

Latest data from Statistics New Zealand shows the suburb now sustaining some 1,900 businesses employing 15,000 staff. Professional services businesses make up 28 percent of corporate activity in Newmarket, with retailing accounting for 18 percent of economic activity, and finance-based firms and insurance companies making up 11 percent of Newmarket businesses.

“As with the tenancy mix within 312–330 Broadway, Newmarket’s business mix is broadly spread across multiple sectors. Activity also includes the entertainment and hospitality sectors – with the Events and Rialto cinema complexes sustaining multi-screen venues, and a plethora of food and beverage operations scattered throughout the main strip and laneway developments, not to mention the outstanding amenities offered within Westfield Newmarket’s rooftop dining precinct,” Lissington said.

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