Sharp opportunity for commercial property investors

The imposing building housing the Wellington showroom and headquarters for global office technology and home appliance company Sharp has been placed on the market for sale.

The six level freehold office tower on a prominent corner of Taranaki Street has 4722 square metres of office space, with 35 car parks, sitting on 1574 square metres of land.

Some 90 percent of the building is leased, while just 397 square metres on level one are vacant. Anchor tenants across the floors are:

• Sharp, which last year signed a new 12-year lease with two six year rights of renewal
• Chartered accountancy firm Millar and Miller which has just signed a new six year lease with a further six year right of renewal.
• The Ministry of Health, which last year signed a three year lease.

and

• The Motor Trade Association, whose lease is expiring next year but has a further six year right of renewal.

Additional revenue is generated through billboard signage rental to APN Media, mobile phone towers owned by Vodafone and 2Degrees, and a camera feeding into Wellington City Council’s traffic management centre.

The building is being marketed by Bayleys Wellington salespeople Mark Sherlock and Grant Young through a tender process closing on November 21.

Mark Sherlock said the building was currently generating a net income of $869,682 but had the potential, when the vacant space was leased, to generate $986,192.

“Sharp House was built by Fletcher Construction in 1988 and utilises reinforced concrete columns and beams, with precast concrete exterior walls with aluminium framed joinery,” Mr Sherlock said.

“A qualitative seismic review of the building by Holmes Consulting Group indicates a rating of between 75 – 85 percent of National Building Standards.

“The property has an extended frontage over Taranaki Street which provides considerable brand exposure for Sharp to the high volumes of traffic using both Taranaki Street and heading east on Ghuznee Street. The Ghuznee Street profile supports a large billboard on the western face of the block.”

The ground floor level tenanted by Sharp features a mix of retail showroom, offices and workrooms. The high stud showroom has an attractive new fitout to support the promotion and sale of business products.
Grant Young said the building’s upper levels were serviced by two 13-person passenger lifts, while a goods lift at the rear of the building rises to level two. All three lifts operate from the basement car park. Office workspace throughout is fully air conditioned, with all levels having access to natural light and their own toilet facilities.

“The immediate surrounding neighbourhood comprise a mix of multi-storey buildings in a mixed-use commercial and residential format. The location is on a main bus route and is short walk from Courtenay Place,” he said.

The building has a 2009 rating valuation of $9.7million – broken down into $4million worth of estimated land value and $5.7million worth of improvements.