Kiwifruit export plant for sale
he land and buildings housing one of New Zealand’s biggest kiwifruit processing and packing plants have been placed is for sale.
The property on the corner of Aerodrome Rd and Aviation Ave, Mt Maunganui, is home to Mount Pack & Cool, which packs and stores premium grade kiwifruit for export and marketing by Zespri International Ltd.
It i s being marketed for sale by Bayleys Auckland and Bayleys Tauranga, through a tender process closing on November 30, which is being managed by Shane Snijder of Bayleys Auckland and Brendon Bradley of Bayleys Tauranga.
The property has an A- grade seismic rating, says Snijder.
Mount Pack & Cool Ltd provides services to kiwifruit growers throughout the Greater Bay of Plenty region. Mount Pack & Cool Ltd works with a loyal group of growers who benefit from being in a consistently highperforming grower pool with consistently higher than industry average returns, he says.
“The expansive warehousing land and buildings are owned by Mount Pack & Cool Ltd parent company Jace Investments Limited — generating annual net rental revenue of circa $ 1.742m. Mount Pack & Cool Ltd has just signed a new 10- year lease on the premises with two further five- year rights of renewal.”
Snijder says the Jace Group of companies is the next generation of horticultural management service provider.
The company was founded from the need to take the New Zealand’s kiwifruit and avocado industries to a higher level of performance and outcomes — both domestically and internationally.
The 22,310 sq m freehold Aerodrome Rd property forms part of the main Mt Maunganui industrial precinct — comprising of a mixture of workshops, showrooms, manufacturing, warehousing and storage premises totalling 14,044sq m. The property is 4km from Mt Maunganui town centre, 5km from Tauranga city centre, and 2km from the Port of Tauranga.
The property at 69- 71 Aerodrome Rd has a current rating valuation of $ 16,925,000 — broken down into $ 11,265,000 for the buildings and $ 5,660,000 for the land.
Bradley says the Mount Pack & Cool Ltd pack house facility at 69 Aerodrome Rd was constructed in 1994, with a canopy extension added in 2004, and first floor offices in 2006.
The premises was developed on concrete slab foundations and flooring, framed with concrete block and steel, containing aluminium joinery, coloursteel cladding, with galvanized iron roofing and plaster board internal linings on the offices and amenities areas.
Dimensions for the building are: Canopy, 1969sq m; pack house, 1196sq m; main office, 188sq m; main office lunchroom, 71sq m; main office amenities, 38sq m; laboratory, 13sq m; server room, 13sq m.
Bradley says the coolstore facility at 69 Aerodrome Rd was built on concrete slab foundations and flooring with framed steel- clad polystyrene panelling.
The controlled atmosphere coolstore is broken down into a central coolstore room of 832sq m, and ten CA Rooms of 149.6sq m.
All the structures are about 8m high and have sliding door access to the canopy areas outside.
An adjacent premises built last year contains a 680 sq m cool store, with a 64sq m canopy built to similar standards and of similar materials.
The coolstore and facilities at 71 Aerodrome Rd were built in 1988 and contain offices and amenities, a plant room, several cool stores and t wo canopies.
Additional coolstore space was added in 1992 and again in 1994.
Dimensions for the building at 71 Aerodrome Rd are: coolstore 1, 1107sq m; coolstore 2, 1107sq m; coolstore 3, 1728sq m; coolstore 4, 1628sq m; canopies, 1500sq m; front offices, 191sq m; workshop/ storage, 59sq m; plant room, 42sq m; re- pack room, 122sq m.
Snijder says the packhouse has a six- lane grader and sizer system, with the capacity to pack up to 6000 trays per hour.
The on- site laboratory enabled
69- 71 Aerodrome Road, Mt Maunganui, Tauranga
22,310sq mof freehold land with dual frontage on to Aerodrome Rd and Aviation Avenue
14,044sq mof lettable floor space containing highly specific warehousing and production plant infrastructure
Returning about $ 1.742 million per annum in recent years, with an existing 10- year lease in place
Tenant is a market leader in the field of kiwifruit processing, packing and export
Zoned industrial. testing for fruit pressure, sugar levels, the presence of any pests, and fruit colour assessment.
The cool stores each had the capacity to store between 400- 1600 Euro- standard pallets and are monitored by 24- hour security and camera surveillance equipment.
The stores are also equipped with temperature alarms monitored 24 hours a day, he says.
The property was fully serviced by the full range of utilities — including water, electricity, fibre telecommunications and sewage disposal.
“Over the tenure of ownership of this property, Jace Investments Limited has continued to invest in its buildings — as demanded by the growth of kiwifruit exports,” Snijder says.
“And there is little to suggest that the kiwifruit sector is showing any signs of slowing.”
Snijder says the forecast growth for the kiwifruit sector — of which the Western Bay of Plenty i s New Zealand’s production hub — bodes well for the ongoing services delivered by the Mount Pack & Cool facility being marketed for sale.
“In March this year, Zespri announced it would be releasing a further 400ha a year of SunGold licences over the next four years — boosting potential fruit volumes by an additional 24 million trays on top of the 4800ha already planted and producing,” he says.
“The overall goal of the industry is to double its export value to $ 3.0 billion by 2025, with the SunGold variety on track to earn $ 1 billion in sales by next year.”