3M will end 46 years on its landmark North Shore site in a year’s time when it moves to new premises in Albany and the existing 2.3 hectare property is sold.
3M has operated its business from premises on the corner of Wairau and Archers Roads since 1962 and is moving to a new two-level, 3400 sq m purpose designed and built four star green rated head office building at Apollo Drive in the Interplex business park.
The Fortune 500 company’s 23,427 sq m Wairau Valley site is being sold as 3M moves to stop manufacturing its foil tape product range at the site by the end of this year and is in the final throes of outsourcing its distribution operations to a logistics company.
New Zealand managing director Greg Brown says manufacturing is being transferred to a company facility off-shore to be closer to the majority of its suppliers and customers.
3M is one of the world’s biggest diversified technology companies. Included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the company is a recognised leader in research and development and its well known brands include Post-it, Scotch-Brite, Command and a wide range of medical, dental, safety tape and adhesive products.
The company’s Wairau Valley property is in four freehold titles and will be sold through Colliers International as one lot by private treaty closing on 15 July.
Colliers International corporate sales broker Jason Seymour and directors Alan McMahon and Andrew Hiskens say vacant possession of the entire site will be given to a new buyer.
3M operates its business across 11,303 sq m of office, laboratory, factory, warehouse buildings and 100 car parks on the site.
The company has been in New Zealand since 1953, initially distributing finished products. Severe import restrictions imposed by the Labour Government in 1957 led 3M to start a local manufacturing operation.
By 1962 the company had sufficient confidence in the future of its New Zealand operations to buy a 4.5 hectare site in Wairau Valley. Over the years, the business grew, new buildings were constructed and by 1973 180 people were employed at the site. More than 200 people now work for 3M but on a smaller site, the company having sold some of its land several years ago for a Mitre 10 Mega store.
Its new Northbridge Properties-owned new premises currently under construction will house 3M’s marketing and administration staff in an attractively landscaped environment. “We are committed to the New Zealand market and will continue to provide customers with the best product,” says Brown.
The existing site has a high stud, 3500 sq m distribution centre towards the rear of the property that was built in 1988. It has access from Poland Road and Seymour says it could be leased or reused in any development of the site.
Even bigger, says Seymour, is the two level, carpeted and air-conditioned 3700 sq m of office space, which includes a warehouse, centrally located on the site that is ideal for immediate occupation.
A factory and older warehouse on a similar scale to the office and distribution centre, completes the major 3M facilities on the site.
The property is situated in a high profile and easily accessible position, with frontage to Archers, Wairau and Poland Roads. Seymour says it has excellent exposure not only to traffic passing its frontages but to motorists heading along the Northern Motorway, which is less than 200 metres away as the crow flies. “It can easily be seen by motorway traffic.”
Seymour says any development of the site is not limited to the existing buildings – a 2565 sq m grassed area on the junction of Wairau and Archers Roads can be included in any new plans for the property.
Under the North Shore City Council’s Operative District Plan the site is zoned Business 10, designed to encourage a wide range of moderate to low intensity business activities.
McMahon says Wairau Valley developed from the 1960s to 1990s as the North Shore’s top industrial location. “Since then, other uses, particularly office, showroom and retail, have dominated the surrounding area, taking advantage of the rapidly rising numbers of people living nearby and a zoning policy, which encourages mixed use.
Wairau Road one of the North Shore’s busiest, is quickly changing in flavor from industrial to retail, says Hiskens. “It will be further enhanced when the Pak ‘n Save supermarket, just along Wairau Road from the 3M site, eventually opens,” says Hiskens.
“A well known retailer is believed to have bought a nearby site to develop a bulk format centre and there are already a large number of retailers operating within 200 metres of 3M’s site, including Target Furniture, Super Cheap Autos, Kings Plant Barn and Jansens.
“Large format retail rents consistently exceed $200/sq m in Wairau Valley, even for relatively large stores. In Takapuna, the North Shore’s commercial centre, about 2.5 kilometres from 3M’s site, retail vacancies are sitting at a low of 3.25 per cent, showing the continuing strength of retail demand on this side of the bridge.”
Hiskens says he expects a lot of interest from North Shore developers, although development finance is harder to find than it was last year. “The site is likely to appeal to bigger developers, many of whom hold their investments and typically have substantial equity, so their lending requirements are modest. It could be suitable for a quality retail or office park.”
Seymour says the site is also ideal for owner-occupiers and investors wanting to lease the existing offices, distribution centre and factory, plus develop the grassed area.
“Because there are so many options, it is difficult to predict a sale price, but we expect the property to be highly sought after and command a premium price,” says McMahon, who has been involved in providing advice to 3M throughout the process.
“The Morgan Furniture site in Archers Road sold for a pretty good price last year, and arguably the 3M site is better as it sits on a prime corner location with three street frontages. That gives it great flexibility, particularly in terms of building design and traffic management.”
3M is selling the site with vacant possession. Seymour says the company would prefer to sell with settlement deferred until August next year when it moves to its new head office. He says 3M will consider selling and taking a short-term lease back over the premises and will also look at offers to buy a leasehold interest.
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