With the Hutt Valley’s industrial precincts proving resilient to market fluctuations and a beacon for tenants and investors, a vacant Naenae property has potential for owner-occupiers to secure a stake within the region’s preferred industrial hub and be their own landlord.

The gritty former engineering business property at 107 Naenae Road between Daysh Street and Horlor Streets sits in a small pocket of industrial and commercial properties and has a 40-metre street frontage.

The two side-by-side workshop bays have stud heights ranging from 5.1 metres to 8.1 metres at the centre pitch. These are augmented by a lean-to workshop and workshop store, a well-proportioned office area to the Naenae Road frontage, a rear yard and five off-street car parks.

The property has a total floor area of 1,455sqm, plus yard and parking and occupies a 2,026sqm site zoned General Business. It has a potential net annual rent of $207,000 plus GST.

Ethan Hourigan, Liam Sherlock and Paul Cudby, Bayleys Wellington Commercial are marketing the property by tender, closing 12th March.

Hourigan says with only a handful of industrial properties between Seaview and Wingate, the vacant Naenae Road property “has value for money written all over it”.

“Look, it won’t win any prizes for looks, but the bones of the building are good and it’s right up there on functionality.

“There are slim pickings in the Lower Hutt industrial market, particularly for those wanting no-frills and practical space, like engineering or automotive businesses.

“With an improving interest rate environment and tight vacancy for industrial stock, occupiers are increasingly looking to buy their way into the market to have secure tenure, to mitigate rising rents and essentially have more control over their future.”

The two warehouse bays could be split, says Sherlock, which could suit a smaller owner-occupier or an investor.

“An owner could operate out of one of the warehouse bays and clip the ticket by leasing out the balance.

“Alternatively, an add-value investor could buy the property, freshen it up and go out to the occupier market with good, serviceable space.”

Overall industrial vacancy across the Wellington region sits around 2.5 percent. The Hutt Valley has more than half of all the industrial precincts in the Wellington area, and Lower Hutt has always taken the spotlight given its good connectivity and a wide range of industrial stock.

“Leasing demand is picking up off the back of the better economic outlook and the vendor motivation is high to sell this Naenae Road property so we hope the tenders roll in,” says Hourigan.

“It would make a great workshop, trade base or secure storage facility and there could be an existing operator in the general area looking to acquire some additional space.

“The other thing to consider here is the General Business zoning which has a 12-metre height limit so given the decent-size of the landholding, there are options to think about.”

The subject property is 2.2km from State Highway 2 via the Kennedy Good Bridge, and is close to the Naenae train station and the Naenae shops.

There’s a mix of industrial and commercial users in the neighbourhood including Bunnings trade centre, Resene manufacturing and trade outlet, Rembrandt Suits, Hoults Doors, Tretheway Stone and many small service providers.