Cambridge hub is new focus of retail, community services
The land and building designed to house the retail outlets of two of New Zealand’s biggest consumer brands have been placed on the market.
The newly-built property in the Cambridge retail and community services hub of Lakewood is jointly occupied by a Westpac NZ Regional Hub and retail branch opening next month, and by telco services provider Vodafone NZ.
The Westpac portion will include a full suite of modern banking facilities including a 24-hour cash service lobby, interactive digital drop-in area for customers wanting to use a device to do their banking, a concierge space, multiple meeting rooms, boardroom and staff amenities.
The neighbouring Vodafone outlet will house the latest in its NZ network of retail outlets – offering an interactive, new-look experience.
The 578sq m premises has a new building standards rating of 100 per cent, replicating other commercial premises within the mixed-use development. It contains a combination of new-build residential dwellings and a substantial portion of commercial sites – expanding Cambridge’s currently tightlyheld town centre capacity.
The freehold unit at 4/34B Lake St, Cambridge, is being marketed for sale by auction on May 26 through Bayleys Hamilton.
Salespeople Jordan Metcalfe, Rebecca Bruce and Willem Brown said Westpac would occupy around 488sq m of the premises with Vodafone taking the remaining approximately 90sq m.
“The property ticks all the boxes for passive property investors – comprising a modern, newly-built low-maintenance premises in a growth location, occupied by two prominent tenancies on favourable lease terms,” said Bruce.
“The Lakewood mixed-use development aligns well with the town’s traditional retail hub, and initially targeted operators who didn’t have a presence in Cambridge and recognised that it is a strong growth area.
“In line with all properties within the Lakewood development, there has been great attention to detail at the construction level. Concurrently, the individual fit outs for the two corporate brands will position them both well for the future from an operational and customer service perspective.”
Combined, the leases to Vodafone and Westpac will generate annual rental of approximately $170,000 + GST, with both leases comprising built-in rental growth, along with rights of renewal.
The Lakewood Cambridge development has been built by well-known Waikato construction company Fosters on previously redundant historic railway yards located between the town’s existing central business district and Lake Te Ko Utu.
The dynamics for the 3ha mixed-use hub were scoped by economic demographics research firm Property Economics which conducted a comprehensive audit of Cambridge's existing retail and commercial property sector and identified what it labelled significant “shopping leakage.”
Property Economics found that on average, 57 per cent of Cambridge residents' total shopping spend went outside the town’s
32,109sq m of existing stores. It noted that the town was short of almost 10,000sq m of retail space.
The research found there was pent-up demand for new retail services and amenities from the town's 20,000 residents. Its data predicted, pre-Covid-19, that the total retail expenditure of Cambridge’s resident and visitor population was forecast to grow 34.7 per cent between 2015 and 2033.
“Lakewood Cambridge was needed as the town's main street is heavily constrained by its geography and popularity, and with a population increase of more than 4000 people expected by 2033, and 10,000 by
2050, there was little room for commercial expansion under current paradigms,” Metcalfe said.
“As a mixed-use development, the developer's aim was to align Lakewood Cambridge with what was already working well in Cambridge town centre, and to more effectively connect with the lake. Each of the buildings reflect Cambridge's heritage, with different materials used on each block to reference various parts of the town's history.”
Lakewood has on-site car parking for some 300 vehicles, with tree-lined shared walkways and cycle paths linking the precinct with the Cambridge central business district and Lake Te Ko Utu.