Former warehouse offering prime Ponsonby location
Brokers say a “chic industrial showroom”, being offered for sale at 49 Mackelvie St, brings opportunity to buy into one of Ponsonby’s more tightly held areas.
“To illustrate the rarity factor, this is the first time this property has been on the market in 26 years,” says Wilson and Hurst commercial broker Everett Jaura.
“Over the last two decades there have only been a handful of transactions on the golden triangle, formed by Mackelvie St, Ponsonby Rd and Williamson Ave. Historically, similar warehouse buildings located in this area running between Ponsonby Rd and Rose Rd, were popular as mechanics’ workshops and other light industrial uses. With Ponsonby’s gentrification over the last decade, the area is dominated by retail and fashion tenants now.
“To find a standalone freehold property like this, just off Ponsonby Rd with its famed high- end restaurants and boutique shops i s really something,” says Jaura.
He says the 420sq m building sits on a 481sq msite. It has masonry walls and concrete columns with a metal roof on timber rafters and comes with five carparks. The tenant i s Photo Gear Ltd, which covers 100 per cent of the outgoings and pays a net rent of $ 112,500pa.
Jaura describes the six- year lease — running through to October 2022, with final expiry in September 2028 — as “gratifyingly solid”. He says it has almost every protection imaginable built- in, including a 12- month demoli- tion clause that kicks in from October 2022.
“This lease comes with a personal guarantee plus a six- month gross rent guarantee from the bank. Generally, leases will come with either one or other. We see very few leases offering — as is the case here — both a bank and a personal guarantee.”
Wilson and Hurst leasing brokers Jack Hall and Paul Kinghan negotiated the lease in 2016, with a rent review mechanism alternating between a 3 per cent fixed increase and market rent reviews every year and a half. The first 3 per cent increase is slated for April 2018, followed by a market rent review in October 2019 with alternating reviews every 18 months thereafter.
The Auckland Unitary Plan zone is Mixed Use, allowing for a 16m height limit on the site and a wide range of permitted activities. These include residential dwellings, commercial uses, food and beverage, retail, small supermarkets, light industrial and even healthcare facilities.