Christchurch site ripe for residential development
With prime vacant residential land like gold in Christchurch, an 11ha site in Papanui might be seen as a developer’s dream.
This large pocket in Langdons Rd and adjacent to Northlands Mall is surrounded by numerous other services in the popular north west suburb.
The Christchurch City Council says the 11ha site is currently zoned for general industrial activity, the majority of the site being zoned Business 5, apart from a 50m wide strip along Langdons Rd which is zoned Business 4. Resource consent or a plan change would be required for residential development or residential lead mixed-use development, to proceed.
Jonathan Lyttle and Gary Seear, marketing agents for Colliers International in Christchurch, are enthusiastic about the possibilities.
“We think that as this is an orphaned site, isolated from any other industrial properties and surrounded by residential homes and retail – that it could be ripe for rezoning, especially now. There would be very few such potential development sites available in the heart of an existing community with all the usual ancillary services.
“We believe it would be perfect for medium to high density residential housing. At the moment it includes a factory of approximately 25,000m2 part of which is currently leased to the Ministry of Social Development on a shorter term lease.” they said.
The site was established in the late 1940s and used as a tyre manufacturing plant by the then Firestone company, which was subsequently bought out by Bridgestone. Manufacturing ceased on the site in December 2009.
David Gell at Bridgestone NZ said the whole of 2010 was spent decommissioning the site – removing the plant and equipment. The buildings alone remain.
He sees merit in the site being re-zoned for residential lead activity.
“It’s adjacent to the Papanui town centre and Environment Canterbury, in its Canterbury Regional Policy Statement Porposed Change 1, identifies the Papanui Town Centre as an area of increased intensification. It’s in the proximity of local government, community facilities, shopping and retail.
“The scale is big enough to allow it to become its own suburb or node within Papanui, or as a mixed use site with a bit of commercial activity, too. Part of its appeal is that it has a considerable road frontage on Langdons Rd.”
The site is one of four Christchurch properties being offered by Colliers in its latest National Portfolio.
Four units at Addington business park Workstation55 are going under the hammer on August 23. Wimsett’s Latitude Group still retains the lion's share of the complex but is selling four units in the recently completed Lot 5 which is situated on 16000m2 behind Lots 1 - 4 with its own fully complying private road. The site comprises 17 office and office/warehouse units with a total area of 7000m2 office space and 2400m2 warehouse space. Each unit is individually titled.
Noel Gilchrist, manager investment sales at Colliers in Christchurch, said the four units on the market (1,7,10,17) all have long leases: Telecom eight years: Kindercare Learning Centre 12 years; Crombie Lockwood and Macquarie Private Wealth four years respectively.
Gilchrist said that the Auckland-based developer, Ken Wimsett, was selling down the four units to free up capital for further opportunities.
“The Christchurch rebuild represents a huge range of investment opportunities for developers like Latitude Group.”
Gilchrist said the Workstation55 units had “flown through” the structural engineer’s reports.
The 3.4ha complex, comprising five lots, is fully leased to an impressive line-up of tenants including Hewlett Packard, NZ Statistics, Eaton Corporation, the Ministry of Education, and Whitebait TV.
The other Christchurch properties on offer are:
- 35 Lunns Rd, Middleton. 40 units in secure storage complex established by Allstor.
- 16-18 College Ave, Timaru. Land development opportunity.
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