News
Expanding commercial premises
We’re a resilient bunch in our little corner of the South Pacific; more than 90 percent of the businesses that were running in Christchurch city prior to the earthquakes are still running, many new ones have since popped up.
But with access to significantly fewer premises, the leasing market is a tight one.
Light is visible at the end of the tunnel, with new developments springing up city-wide.
Work on a multi million dollar light industrial multi-use business park in Christchurch is underway, with the first diggers breaking ground. The Harvard Hub is a desirable plot of flat and sunny land at Wigram, just off the city’s Southern motorway.
The extensive project is under construction by the Christchurch branch of award-winning South Island company Amalgamated Builders (ABL) and project managed by experienced property investment company TPI Ltd.
The initial Stage One consists of three larger units – one has already sold with strong interest shown from other potential buyers. Of the 22 units on offer, office spaces range from as little as 55sqm to 330sqm while warehouse sizes go from 60sqm to 514sqm.
Sitting right alongside Christchurch’s biggest residential subdivision Wigram Skies, which itself will include a full-size shopping centre and around 1800 homes, individual unit buildings at Harvard Hub cater for a range of businesses from service and distribution storage to trades, professional offices, light manufacturers and a café.
TPI director Lindsay Topp, an experienced Arrowtown-based property developer, says he was thrilled to get the project underway with ABL. “They’re good southern guys with a great knowledge base built up over decades in the industry and I’ve had good experiences with them building a number of projects on time and to budget,” he says.
“They make it really easy from my point of view because they just take control and do the job, and it’s all about transparency, honesty and team performance.”
Topp says the level of interest in the units, designed by Merivale-based DD Architects Ltd, was very high. “The fact we’ve been able to get through the consent process to get this underway is very appealing right now to businesses looking to establish themselves in this fast-growing area,” he says.
Gavin Ryan of commercial property sales and leasing specialists M B Cook Commercial Ltd says there is currently a serious lack of this sort of product in the marketplace.
“While there’s plenty of talk out there about future developments, to my knowledge this is the only company which has actually started a ‘spec’ build of this nature ahead of the market,” he says.
The first three units are expected to be completed by June 2014. Work on Stage Two for the remaining 19 units is anticipated to commence on issue of
the building consent.
Sales and lease enquiries are welcome to Gavin Ryan on gavin@mbcook.co.nz, mobile 0274 584 587 or (03) 341 4098 or visit the website www.harvardhub.co.nz
