Ex-Candyland is a sweet buy
More than 3000sq m of industrial buildings for sale in the Waikato town of Taupiri include a large former dairy factory cool store.
On about 1.8ha of land at 75 Henry Rd, the property started as a cheese-making plant before being repurposed into a candy making factory and expanded in the late 1980s.
In 1988 the facility was converted into a sweets factory, which — till its recent closure — was a popular Waikato tourist attraction.
Mike Swanson, who is marketing the vacant property with Bayleys Waikato colleague Alex ten Hove, says the former owner of the Candyland business, now retired and aged in his 80s, is ready to move on and motivated to sell, says Swanson.
The property will go up for auction at
11am on August 30, unless sold earlier. Swanson says it comprises an extensive range of buildings totalling just over 3700sq m, the key drawcard being about 1200sq m of pallet-racked cool stores and a large rapid cooler.
“The premises would suit a variety of uses including storage, logistics and trucking as well as food or pet food production, either utilising or leasing the cool storage separately. Based on comparative market rental figures, the potential income from leasing the cool storage alone could be in excess of $100,000 annually.
“Another feature is its location, only
20km from Hamilton on the new expressway and within the all-important Golden Triangle between Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga.
“Smaller townsin the triangle are showing good growth because of their improved connectivity with these major cities and benefiting from big businesses taking advantage of the much lower occupancy cost of business premises in these towns.”
Alex ten Hove says the production area in the main building had a food related licence to produce a variety of consumable products which could be reactivated.
“The property comes with a treasure trove of machinery and workshop storage areas and has a large inventory of stock, plant and equipment including forklifts and engineering equipment.
“A large stock of confectionery production equipment is also part of the sale and includes mixers, chocolate plant with cooling tunnels and coating machines. Everything is being sold on as an ‘as is basis’.”
He says the substantial site provides extensive parking and hard stand areas with good truck access, as well as former staff and manager’s accommodation on the right hand side of the property.
“While not currently used, if tidied up this area could have many applications.”
Taupiri, alongside the Waikato River, is in the middle of one of the country’s largest dairy, beef and sheep farming areas and provides essential rural supplies and services. It has a population of around 400 and the North Island main trunk rail line railway runs through the town, predominantly for transportation of goods from Auckland to Wellington and towns in between.
Almost 50 per cent of New Zealand’s GDP is generated within the “Golden Triangle” which includes the country’s two largest ports at Tauranga and Auckland.
They will link with the multi-billion dollar, 480ha inland port being developed at Ruakura, on the outskirts of Hamilton and close to Taupiri.
It is expected to generate around 11,000 new jobs for the region and contribute $5 billion to the economy every year.