Passive investors sought for hardware revamp

A dilapidated PlaceMakers building in Oamaru will be progressively demolished to make way for new premises and offered as a passive investment.

The new PlaceMakers in central Oamaru is being offered through Savills brokers Ben Dwan and William Wallace.

The purpose-designed bulk retail store is expected to be completed in mid-2018. The national hardware chain will then lease the property back from the new owner for an initial 12-year term, with rights of renewal to a potential 30-year term.

The initial annual net rental for the new property will be $324,000, with rent reviews built into the lease providing the potential for income growth.

PlaceMakers is the trading name of Fletcher Distribution, the retail arm of Fletcher Building, and New Zealand’s largest supplier of building materials and hardware, employing more than 2100 people with 58 stores.

Fletcher Distribution development director Matthew Grainger said the completed development will be of the same high standard as PlaceMakers’ other newest stores, such as those in Kaiapoi and Lower Hutt.

When complete, the new store will have 2609 square metres of floor area, along with a 2306sqm yard and 65 on-site car parks. The building will include a main showroom, a drive-through warehouse and mezzanine offices.

Savills is marketing the freehold property at 23 Humber St by deadline private treaty closing on May 11.

Dwan said it was a chance to own a new retail property in a prime location in a thriving regional town. ‘‘The Oamaru site is a strategic part of PlaceMakers’ national network of stores, with the chain having a longstanding presence at the site.’’

Demolition and construction will be carried out in planned stages, to enable PlaceMakers to continue uninterrupted trading during the redevelopment.

The 6575sqm site has been occupied by PlaceMakers and its predecessors for 139 years.

There has been a timber merchant on the property since 1878, when Invercargill-based sawmill McCallum and Company opened a timber yard at the property.

The original timber yard was rebuilt after a fire in 1898. In 1962, Fletcher Holdings became the major shareholder of McCallum and Company and in 1967 the company name was changed to Fletcher Merchants and then to PlaceMakers in 1982.

The property is in a Business 3 zone, which is a mixed business zone providing for light industrial, service, retail, wholesale and office activities.