Hilton Haulage is looking to sell then lease back its 1 hectare of prime industrial land in Hillsborough, Christchurch.
Situated beside the Lyttelton Port Companies “inland port” and adjacent to the main rail line, the site has three points of access as well as an enormous area of space for future development.
Jonathan Lyttle, industrial specialist at Colliers International in Christchurch, said that sites like this are extremely rare.
“The land is over three titles and there are 1600sq meters of office and warehouse, the office block having being fully rebuilt only 1 year ago. The fact that there is only 16 per cent site coverage offers fantastic scope for on-going development.
“Over the last year properties in this area have been getting a yield of between 7.5% and 8.5%. With an annual lease of $250,000, a tenant of the quality of Hilton Haulage, and the fact they are looking for a long lease, makes this an extremely attractive proposition,” he said.
Hilton Haulage is based in Timaru, with approx. half of its work being carried out from its two Christchurch depots in Hillsborough and Sockburn. It has a fleet of 99 trucks, 150 trailers, 15 forklifts and a similar number of miscellaneous plant items. There is a permanent staff of 160 with extra casuals during the peak spring and autumn seasons.
Peter McAuley, managing director of Hilton Haulage, said the firm has a simple philosophy of concentrating on the Canterbury Region by providing the best possible service to the people it knows, rather than being all things to a wider market.
“While there is probably a perception that our business is based on general cartage, we are actually quite specialised and focused on the food related industries in Canterbury. We work with the independent dairy companies in Canterbury and it is their growth that is pushing our need for more trucks and related services. To ensure we can continue to grow with these customers and service them to a high standard, we intend to release capital from our Hillsborough property to help fund future growth” he said.
“Hillsborough houses our container division and what we call the Container Fright Station. This handles FAK (freight of all kinds) containers for several forwarders. The Freight Station also includes a MAF-approved and Customs-bonded facility in which containers are unpacked, checked, cleared and their contents stored awaiting release. Export FAK containers are also packed ready for dispatch.
“The service offered also includes MAF-approved washing, steam cleaning and fumigation for high risk items. MAF also use the facility to train their sniffer dogs. In addition our container transport fleet of approx. 20 trucks is domiciled and operated from the site” he said.
Hilton Haulage actually developed this site back in 1989, but then later sold it to Auckland’s Tapper Transport when they set up shop in Christchurch in 1996. Subsequently Tapper’s sold their Christchurch business to Hilton Haulage in 2004 and Hilton Haulage re-purchased the property and moved back on-site.
The property is offered for sale by deadline private treaty closing 4pm 27 November 2009, (unless sold prior).
Further information: Jonathan Lyttle (Colliers), ph 021-535-995
Print this article or Email to a friend