Retail units are a ticket into Queenstown
With demand for good Queenstown stock exploding, three retail units for sale on the ground floor of the Ramada hotel complex are expected to engage the attention of investors both here and overseas.
The freehold units — located in Remarkables Park, 24 Hawthorne Dr — are being sold by CBRE agents Ellie Martin, Richard Larman and Deborah Dowling. They are to be auctioned on November 23, unless sold earlier.
“Getting into the hot Queenstown property market with an accessible bite-sized investment such as these units is a great opportunity — especially within these price ranges and given the strong tenant covenants in place,” says Martin. She says it’s hard to fault the location — right at the heart of a master-planned community and within easy reach of both airport and state highways running north and south.
“Tenants benefit from being part of the Ramada Hotel complex, and the assured patronage flowing from that. The location also capitalises on what is set to become Queenstown’s new town centre and service hub.” She says hundreds of homes are planned for residential developments within 2km of the property.
“Plans were recently announced for a 6000sq m medical facility and work has begun on a $5.5m, 992sq m office building on Hawthorne Dr. In February next year a new secondary school is to open its doors to 1,800 students. So everything points to continued population growth in this part of Queenstown,” says Martin.
The leasable area of the three units is 530sq m, delivering a total of $300,900 net income pa.
● Unit 2 houses houses the car rental company Aerodrive (returning $32,000 pa net on a 58sq m site) and physiotherapy clinic Queenstown Body Works (returning $51,400 pa net on an 88sq m site).
● Unit 6 houses Strada Cafe on an eight-year lease, (228sq m site returning $128,400 pa net).
● Unit 7 houses financial services company Loan Market, (six-year lease for a 95sq m site returning $52,550 pa net) and optometrist, Queenstown Eye, (five-year lease for a 61sq m site returning $36,550 pa net).
Larman says the property offers affordable investment size plus attractive rental terms with personal guarantees and built-in rental growth.
“All in a region with surging economic growth.
“Queenstown airport experienced 1.86 million visitors last year with an increase of about 5.2 perc cent in visitor growth from 2016-2017.”
According to a latest Infometrics report the local economy grew 9.6 per cent in 2016 compared with 2.5 per cent across New Zealand. The Queenstown population sits at about 34,700 people, trending upwards at a growth rate of 7.1 per cent.”
“With increasing tourism and associated activity, the region is benefiting from strong economic growth with a focus on construction to support the demand. Low supply of stock plus high investor demand has resulted in a market showing incredible buoyancy,” says Larman.
“The opportunity to secure new retail units as a freehold unit title investment at Queenstown, having both long-term tenants and good covenants in place, can’t last long.”