Large-scale cool store for sale — global distributor is tenant

One of the largest cool stores in Hawke’s Bay, operated by a global distribution specialist Emergent Cold, is on the market for sale.

The facility occupies 1.5ha at 1A Kirkwood Rd in the Hastings industrial suburb of Twyford.

Emergent Cold has sites in Auckland, Christchurch, Timaru and Dunedin. It also operates in Australia, Vietnam and Sri Lanka.

The company bought out Polarcold New Zealand last year, and plans further expansion in the Asia Pacific region this year, including a new plant in Peru.

The 10,558sq m Kirkwood Rd plant was built in the mid-to-late 1990s and consists of drive-in blast freezers and chillers, refrigerated storage warehousing, a refrigeration plant and machinery room, and administrative offices.

Emergent Cold has a lease on the site until 2029, with two further sixyear rights of renewal generating annual rental of $666,629 plus GST.

Rent reviews are linked to the consumer price index and are undertaken every two years, with Emergent Cold responsible for any plant and machinery maintenance expenses.

The property is for sale by deadline private treaty through Bayleys Hawke’s Bay, closing on March 5 unless sold earlier. Salesperson Rollo Vavasour said the facility had an overall new building standards rating of 70 per cent.

“The location and sheer scale of this complex is ideal, with Hawke’s Bay’s diversity encompassing pip fruit, stone fruit, and processed sheep and beef meat.”

More than 60 per cent of New Zealand’s pip fruit crop is exported. Along with stone fruit — which is seeing growth in apricot and cherry production out of Hawke’s Bay — markets include Australia, the USA, Europe, Korea, Thailand, Japan and China.

“With an ever-increasing number of hectares being converted to pip and stone fruit production in Hawke’s Bay, it’s obvious to see why the tenant at Kirkwood Rd has such a significant base to carry out its post harvest operations,” Vavasour said.

The building is redominantly steel framing with insulated clad walls and long-run iron roofing above concrete slab flooring. “Over the last two years, spouting and ceiling panels have been replaced, new roofing has been installed, and there has been regular chemical spraying for mould and lichen removal,” Vavasour said.