NZ Post to lease $100mplus premises
AUCKLAND: The rapid rise in online shopping has prompted NZ Post to lease a $100 millionplus yettobebuilt premises the size of three rugby fields in south Auckland.
The stateowned enterprise said the 3.3ha planned new building would be in addition to its planned new Wellington ‘‘super depot’’.
A spokesperson said both the Wellington and Auckland buildings were in response to the rise in online shopping.
‘‘NZ Post is investing in infrastructure to meet the growing demand for online shopping and parcel processing and delivery. The investment programme began in June with the start of construction of a new super depot for parcels, in Grenada, Wellington,’’ the spokesperson said.
‘‘The programme also includes a new processing centre in Wiri, South Auckland, due to open in 2023. Blessing of this site will be taking place in the coming weeks, with construction to start soon after,’’ NZ Post said.
The SOE is investing $170 million in its network to double its parcelprocessing capacity from 95 million parcels a year to 190 million parcels and Associate StateOwned Enterprises Minister Shane Jones announced the Wellington depot in June.
In May, Broadcasting Minister Kris Faafoi said without government support, NZ Post would face having to make drastic cuts to its mail business to remain viable.
‘‘Post’s revenue has fallen substantially but the costs of delivering the service New Zealanders expect have remained the same. The $150 million equity injection, along with the $130 million funding for mail services, means we avoid significant cuts to its service and workforce and big price increases for its customers,’’ Mr Faafoi said at the time.
Last September, NZ Post reported a loss of $121 million in the 12 months ended June 30, compared to a profit of $13 million a year earlier when the bottom line was buoyed from its share of Kiwibank profits.
Tony Catton, New Zealand senior development manager at Sydneyheadquartered property specialists Logos, said his company would build the new premises.
The site would be worth about $600 million once several new buildings went up there, Mr Catton said.
The Wiri building is in addition to NZ Post’s existing handling centre at Highbrook.
Logos plans to start work soon on the site owned by pension fund AustralianSuper.
Mr Catton said Logos would build the 33,700sq m premises which NZ Post had agreed to lease for 20 years from 2023.
Other businesses have also signed up to lease asyetunbuilt premises there.
Hilton Foods New Zealand has committed to a 25year prelease for a 15,700sq m processing and distribution building.
Mr Catton said development work started at Wiri in April last year.—The New Zealand Herald