Swings And Roundabouts For Property Investors As New Daycare Centre Is Placed On The Market For Sale

Plans for the building and sale of a preschool childcare facility – which were disrupted because of COVID-19’s impact on the construction sector and general community – have been resurrected.

The state-of-the-art educational amenity is located in a burgeoning residential enclave called Lockerbie Estate - sitting on the current urban boundary of the Waikato township of Morrinsville. The emerging suburb is one of the largest such urban developments increasing both housing and social infrastructure in the Waikato.

The new master-planned Lockerbie Estate community – including the daycare facility currently under construction – will see the creation of some 800 new residential dwellings accommodating more than 2,500 residents on 79 hectares of what was once farmland. Located some 29 kilometres east of Hamilton directly on State Highway 26, Morrinsville has a population of approximately 7,000 residents.

The greater Lockerbie Estate development will also include a retirement village, café, and neighbourhood retail hub. Lockerbie’s residential development has been planned for gradual evolution over eight stages – the first of which commenced last year, with the final phase scheduled for completion by 2030.

The freehold land and daycare facility premises which will accommodate the Morrinsville Early Learning Village being built on the corner of Lockerbie Street and Fairway Drive were first placed on the market for sale in September last year.

However, as COVID-19 disrupted not only the scheduled construction timetable for the property, but also the core business operations of its owner/developer, the project was withdrawn from the market until a more appropriate time. With ongoing supply chain issues in the construction sector this year, many of which have now been resolved to some extent, the building postponement decision proved to be prudent.

The property on the corner of Lockerbie Street and Fairway Drive is now being marketed for sale by deadline private treaty through Bayleys Hamilton, with offers closing on June 23. Salesperson Josh Smith said the 504-square metre Morrinsville Early Learning Village building had been specifically designed to radiate from the centre outwards - with the infants’ area safely encircled by the ‘big kids’ zone’ and access to shade-covered outdoor play areas.

The single-storey interior will also feature administrative office space, a kitchen, laundry, and separate staff and patron bathroom amenities. Situated on some 2,492 square metres of freehold land, the Morrinsville Early Learning Village daycare centre will be licensed to accommodate up to 85 children - with car parking for staff and clients, and a substantial on-site pick-up and drop-off zone to ensure the safety of children attending the centre.

Located on the corner of Lockerbie Street and Fairway Drive in Morrinsville, the impressive new facility is due to open in the middle of next year and will be operated by Waikato-based childcare services provider Grow ECE Limited which already runs several other such locations in the region.

Over the past nine months, Grow ECE Limited has been focussing on maintaining the continuity of those existing sites during the difficult COVID-19 Omicron phase - which has seen staff, attendees, and their family members impacted with the virus, and having to self-isolate accordingly.

Grow ECE Limited’s approach to running daycare amenities is through creating a ‘village’ atmosphere where caring, growing and celebrating the extraordinary is an everyday experience.

Bayleys Hamilton salesperson Josh Smith said the growing demand for early childhood education and care in New Zealand – known as ECE - was being driven through changes in demographics, population, and societal changes in the way families lived and worked.

“For families with two working parents, along with many solo parent households, outsourced childcare is an integral and now widely accepted part of modern family life,” Smith said.

“Public funding for the sector is reliable and secure. The 2020 Government budget for example committed an additional $278 million over the ensuing four years to fund ECE services employing fully-qualified staff.”

The proportion of New Zealand children enrolled at education and care service amenities increased from 63 percent in the 2015 Early Childcare Education (ECE) census, to 69 percent in the 2020 ECE figures – with the number of weekly ECE attendance hours also growing over the same period from 22 to 23.3 hours.

“Proximity to higher socio-economic suburbs where residents generally have more income to spend on ECE services was an important consideration in the decision to build this new early childhood centre, along with proximity to locations where there is a high level of employment - as parents like to work close to their child’s daycare centre,” said Smith.

“Morrinsville is increasingly being seen as a home-buying destination by families priced out of the Hamilton residential property market but still wanting to stay in the province, as a more cost-effective provincial location in which to be live.

“This long-term pipeline of population growth relocating into Lockerbie Estate as stages open up will underpin the customer base for the early childhood centre being offered for sale.”

Smith said the Morrinsville Early Learning Village daycare centre was being sold with a ‘sunset clause’ in place to offer guaranteed security of construction by the agreed date to allow the centre to open ready for immediate occupation by Grow ECE Limited.

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