DIY investors set to nail Mega hardware store

One of the largest bulk retail properties operating in New Zealand has been placed on the market for sale.
The 14,187square metre Mitre 10 MEGA store in Henderson, West Auckland was the largest bulk retail outlet of its kind in Australasia when it was completed in 2004 – and still ranks well up the scale because of its sheer floor space.

The store sits on the southern end of a 2.76 hectare site with extensive customer car parking for 261 vehicles on the northern side. It comes with 8667 square metres of general retail space, a 2467 square metre garden centre, offices and amenities, a 1036 square metre timber yard and a cafe.

Mitre 10 (New Zealand) Ltd has a 10-year head lease on the property from April 2009. The store currently produces net annual rental income of $1.8million. The site is being marketed by Darryl Devereux and Brian Caldwell of Bayleys North Shore in conjunction with Scot Kirk from Bayleys Auckland.

Bayleys North Shore sales consultant Darryl Devereux said the high profile site was strategically located on one of West Auckland’s major arterial routes - benefiting from convenient access to the North Western Motorway, the western city’s direct arterial route to Auckland CBD and greater Auckland.
Lincoln Road - which has a daily traffic count of approximately 47,250 vehicles - provides the major transport link between the North Western motorway and Henderson, the commercial heart of Waitakere city.

“This area is a natural draw card for business investment because of its high profile exposure, and has become an extremely sought after retail location in recent years – as evidenced by the recent highly successful sell down of all 22 commercial properties in the Lincoln Road shopping mall complex last month,” Mr Devereux said.

“The Mitre 10 property adjoins one of the country’s biggest Pak n’ Save stores, and a Shell petrol station – thereby creating a ‘hub’ style retail experience.”
The property is owned by family interests of Auckland businessman Vinod Kumar, whose company Magsons Hardware Ltd subleases the site from Mitre 10 (New Zealand) Ltd. Kumar’s company also owns two other Mitre 10 businesses - in Botany and Westgate. The expansive Henderson site was first brought to the market early last year with negotiations ceasing when the prospective investor could not secure the necessary funding within the agreed contractual timeframe.
“The vendor is now totally committed to selling the property, but will be retaining the business operations of the Henderson outlet in line with their obligations to the Mitre10 (NZ) Limited head-lease,” Mr Devereux said.

The property is being auctioned by Bayleys on September 23 at the company’s central Auckland offices.
When it came onto the market, the large scale retail format of Mitre 10 Henderson proved so successful that it was subsequently used as a model for later Mitre 10 Mega stores developed throughout Auckland. The Mitre 10 brand now has 24 large format stores nationwide.

Mitre 10 has been a household name in New Zealand since 1974 when it was introduced by 15 hardware retailers following the success of Mitre 10 in Australia. There are now more than 120 Mitre 10 stores throughout New Zealand, operating under the company banner.

Caption: Big is good – the massive Mitre 10 retail property in West Auckland is on the market for sale