Land opportunity in fast-growing suburb
A substantial tract of residential land held in multiple titles with the potential to be developed into hundreds of new homes or apartments is for sale.
The land, which is near Westgate town centre, in Auckland, has been subdivided into 11 ready-to-develop lots that are for sale either individually or collectively.
The lots are zoned Residential Terrace Housing and Apartment Buildings under the Auckland Unitary Plan, allowing for intensive development of up to 16m in height.
New owners could explore a range of options, from a boutique development on a single lot through to a staged, master-planned residential, retirement or multi-level apartment development over the entire site.
Colliers International has been appointed to market the land at 28-44 and 50-66 Westgate Drive for sale by way of an expressions of interest campaign. Offers close at 4pm on Thursday 23 July, unless the property is sold earlier.
Blair Peterken, director of Colliers’ capital markets team, says the land has favourable high-density zoning and is close to major ammenities, such as Northwest Shopping Centre and Westgate Shopping Centre.
“The 11 freehold titles are available for sale either together or as any combination of individual lots, with sizes ranging from 1,968sqm to 45,569sqm,” he says.
Josh Coburn, site sales director at Colliers International, adds: “The Northwest has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent years as the key areas of Hobsonville Point, Whenuapai and Red Hills have become hubs for large scale residential development."
Some of New Zealand’s largest listed property companies have substantial investments in the area including Kiwi Property Group, which owns Westgate’s Zone 7, and Stride Property, owners of the Northwest Shopping Centre.
To date, public and private sector investment in the Westgate area is in excess of $1 billion.
Once completed, Westgate is expected to create 10,000 new jobs and house 4,000 new residents.
Westgate’s masterplan includes some 6ha of public open space, including parks and walkways. Public amenities include a new 3,500sq m library and community centre.
Last week Colliers reported that more than $150 million worth of residential land sales were conducted during the Covid-19 lockdown period.
Developers and investors snapped up 28ha of residential and mixed-use development land in Auckland.
The sales included the former Caughey Preston Rest Home site, on 3.1 ha of valuable Remuera land, along with Auckland Council’s O¯ rewa Service Centre, two CBD apartment sites, a greenfield site in Drury, and consented townhouse sites.
All nine sales occurred during the Level 3 and 4 coronavirus lockdown period and were brokered by Colliers International.
Coburn says: “We saw a big influx in the amount of enquiry for residential development land throughout lockdown. Developers are betting the Covid effect will be short-lived and will therefore continue putting sites into the development pipeline.
“Driving this sentiment is the wellfounded assumption that we are about to see the return en masse of residential investors.”
Coburn adds: “Land is seen as particularly stable right now, as are houses. By contrast, commercial investors remain cautious about commercial tenant covenants and in some cases their ability to pay rent in the current environment.”
* A version of this story was published last week with the wrong image. OneRoof apologises for the error.