Alloy Yachts is selling its industrial premises

Yesterday was announced that super yacht builder Alloy Yachts is selling its huge industrial premises on a 1.8 hectare freehold site in Henderson directly adjacent to the north western motorway at the Lincoln Rd interchange. For 30 years Alloy Yachts has occupied the site but concluded the business about two years ago when global demand for super yachts collapsed. Much of the plant has already been sold in a separate series of auctions.

"The premises are arguably the largest of its type in west Auckland," states Bruce Whillans, of Whillans Realty Group. With Peta Laery and Tim Boyle of CBRE, they are marketing the property for sale with vacant possession by tender closing November 26.

The property covers more than 11,750 square metres of warehouse and mezzanine storage with 1250 sq m of office space and an extensive yard area.

The site has dual street frontages and various access points. The property has 107 on-site parking spaces and it is fully security fenced.

The smallest site that contains the original warehouse and Alloy Yachts' office is the 5722 sq m Selwood Rd site. A 1950s brick and tile house transformed into office space is also on the property.

At the Concourse address, the site backs onto Henderson Creek and this portion of the property was developed in stages between the late 1990s and 2011. The site consists of a large five bay warehouse with stud heights ranging between 10 and 14 metres, mezzanine workshop, a three level office building and an extensive yard area.

The Alloy Yachts' site is defined Heavy Industrial under the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan (PAUP) allowing for all heavy industrial activities.

"Under this zoning the property could be used for a variety of purposes including retail and wholesale storage users, factory and assembly businesses and industries that involve intensive industrial usage," Boyle states.

"The property could also be suitable for a production company, indoor entertainment centre or another boat building business. Longer term the site could also be redeveloped or re-configured to suit a distribution centre. Under the PAUP there is also provision for drive-through facilities, garden centres, and motor vehicle sales."

A critical shortage of industrial space is a real problem in Auckland and secondary industrial vacancy rates are now well below five per cent.

"So this site presents investors and owner occupiers with a strategic industrial asset of an enviable scale. For owner occupiers it would also serve as a hedge against future rental escalations. In the last 12 months, secondary industrial rentals have increased nearly seven per cent while the Consumer Price Index has moved just 0.4 per cent over the same period. This means that occupancy costs are rising 17 times the rate of inflation. With little development in the pipeline and the Auckland region facing a shortage of land, most commentators are picking industrial occupancy costs will outstrip inflation" -Laery says.

Businesses are looking to counteract the increased occupancy costs of industrial facilities by maximizing the cubic efficiency of a higher stud height and closeness to transport links, both of which are immediately noticeable at the Alloy Yachts' site.

"Coupled with a high-capacity power supply, heavy duty floor loading and large secure yard space, this property ticks a lot of the fundamental boxes of a solid industrial property. With prime industrial vacancy sitting at a record low of 0.6 per cent with many of the aspects of the main building being attributable to an A-Grade facility, we expect interest in this property to be strong."

The location will show a huge bonus for new occupiers wanting comfortable transportation around Auckland and beyond.

"Industrial properties located on motorway interchanges are finite. There are only a handful of sites in Auckland, which offer the same level of direct motorway access. From the Alloy Yachts' site, the north-western-motorway headed east towards the CBD or north to Westgate, Hobsonville and Albany can be accessed in less than a minute. Once the Waterview Connection is completed in early 2017, the property will have direct motorway access to the airport, Manukau CBD and the inland port at Wiri. The completion of the Auckland Ring Route will also enhance the location of this site within the greater Auckland transport network," Boyle states.