Residential ‘holdouts’ at Te Rapa
In an apparent stroke of serendipity, two of the last-remaining residences in the thriving industrial suburb of Te Rapa, are on the market almost simultaneously.
Bayleys Hamilton say it seems purely co-incidental that the two near-neighbouring properties have come up for sale at the same time, as they’re owned by different vendors.
Rebecca Bruce and Jordan Metcalfe say the residential holdouts — now flanked by factories, warehouses and bulk storage yards — recall the history one of Hamilton’s foremost industrial suburbs.
Bruce says they believed to have once housed horse stables as part of the area’s thoroughbred racing heritage linked to the nearby Te Rapa racetrack.
At 56 and 60 Sunshine Ave, the properties are zoned industrial under Hamilton City Council’s District Plan. Neighbours include Three Brothers timber yard; Greene Brothers power tool repairs and servicing workshop; Tony’s Panel vehicle body repair shop and a freight storage yard.
Bruce says No 56 Sunshine Ave has existing residential usage rights emanating from the three-bedroom home on site, while the smaller dwelling at 60 Sunshine has been used as an office, with light industrial activities run from the garaging space at the rear of the site.
The freehold land and buildings at both 56 and 60 are being marketed for sale at auction individually on December 6, by Bayleys Hamilton. They feature in Bayleys’ latest Total Property portfolio magazine.
“The house at 56 Sunshine Ave has been lived in by its current owners for
30 years, while number 56 reverted to industrial use in the 1990s and housed a welding business,” says Bruce. “Both rectangular sections are
1012sq m in size — capable of sustaining warehouse, manufacturing, or engineering entities from a development perspective.
“Subject to appropriate council consenting, there is the possibility of creating a terraced strata titled-style structure on either of the sites.
“Or, they could be bought as passive investments suitable for tenanting: 56 as a residence with twin garages at the end of the driveway; 60 to the likes of an industrial entity.”
Metcalfe says both properties were linked to Hamilton’s thoroughbred racing scene, housing the trainers and stable hands who tended to the horses competing at Te Rapa Race Course, some 200 metres away.
The Hamilton Racing Club began holding races at its Te Rapa track in
1924, when the club bought some
161ha of land to build a track, stabling and jockey amenities, grandstand facilities, and parking.
“We hear anecdotally that when the course was created, and for several decades after, Sunshine Ave and surrounding streets were part of the whole Hamilton Racing Club empire,” Metcalfe says.
“There were stables, various ancillary
training tracks, and a range of dwellings lived in by those associated with the wider racing sector. As Hamilton grew, and Te Rapa evolved into an industrial precinct, those equine activities moved to satellite Waikato towns such as Matamata, Cambridge and Morrinsville.
“Over the decades, blocks of the former equestrian activity land have been sold off, and the paddocks and handful of homes converted into industrial premises. These properties in Sunshine Avenue are virtually all that remains of that bygone era.”
Under Hamilton City Council’s district plan, the industrial zoning for Sunshine Ave allows for buildings and tenancies with activities based around industrial undertakings — such as warehousing, manufacturing plants, storage yards, and factories whose processing methods have limited environmental impacts.