Rangiora to boom with new industrial park
Faster motorway links, a growing population and a shortage of industrial greenfield sites are all conspiring to make Rangiora the new best thing.
The North Canterbury town is emerging as the location to watch as developers and large industrial businesses turn their gaze towards the onetime quiet achiever. Against that backdrop, the timing couldn’t be better for a new development, the Rangiora Industrial Park.
Sam Staite, director of industrial at Colliers Christchurch, and investment sales broker Noel Gilchrist, are marketing the development.
They say there’s a real lack of freehold, unencumbered industrial land and the market is only set to get tighter.
“The dramatic rise of the logistics and transport sector in Christchurch is putting huge pressure on bare land supplies in the city. Instead, developers and businesses are looking to Rangiora where unencumbered land is keenly sought that is large enough to accommodate the growing number of big industrial names,” Staite says.
“There is obvious demand from owneroccupiers and investors seeking freehold parcels. The opportunity lies in the lack of available freehold sites for both small and larger format operators in the district. The Canterbury owneroccupier market has always been strong, and we see no evidence of this desire to own changing.”
Rangiora is in the heart of the progressive Waimakariri District Council catchment. Since the earthquakes the district has been on a strong growth trajectory. Last year 928 new building consents were issued, compared to 582 in 2020.
In 10 years the council expects the area’s population to increase by another 20 per cent and then another 30 per cent in the 15 years following.
Rangiora Industrial Park is the latest project by commercial property fund managers Mainland Capital in partnership with Dunedin-based property investor Tony Clear.
“The economic strength of the Rangiora catchment combined with the lack of supply of commercial land attracted us to this opportunity,” says Blair Brown, national development manager at Mainland Capital. “Working closely with Waimakariri District Council and neighbour Daniel Smith Industries has allowed us to arrive at a development plan we see as very complementary to Rangiora’s commercial precinct..”
Covering 13.8ha, the development comprises 35 sites ranging from 1249sq m to 9156sq m.
Located in the mixed commercial and industrial suburb of Southbrook, the industrial park is bordered by Todds, Southern Cross and Fernside roads with direct access onto Kingsford Smith Drive. Only 400m away lies the Southbrook bulk retail area housing the likes of Mitre 10 Mega, Pak ’n Save and Plumbing World.
Gilchrist says the predicted boom in new housing in the Waimakariri District will need to be matched by infrastructure to support it.
“Canterbury’s industrial land supply is running out. With the available land now controlled by a select few, the prices across the Waimakariri District are rising quickly. Greenfield development sites are also in short supply and demand is growing.”