A substantial commercial premises – encompassing a large warehouse style retailing building surrounded by a sizeable goods storage yard – in the heart of one of New Zealand’s foremost rural productive regions has been placed on the market for sale.

The property in the Central North Island township of Taumaranui comprises some 4,007 square metres of commercially zoned land, sustaining a 1,050-square metre retail warehousing premises occupied by PGG Wrightson Ltd, which is listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange.

The Taumaranui site is one of 170 PGG Wrightson retail premises peppered across New Zealand – employing some 1,800 staff with product expertise and technical services advice in the primary produce agricultural, horticultural, and viticulture sectors.

The interior of PGG Wrightson’s Taumaranui retail warehouse features an open-plan layout comprising stacked shelves and racking. Meanwhile, the external sealed yard allows for the storage of fencing and building products as well as pallet storage, along with staff and customer car parking. The property’s office space comprises a reception, open-plan work area, stereotypical private offices, staff kitchen, and staff bathroom amenities.

Sitting in the middle of Taumaranui’s central business district, the rectangular-shaped property at 29 Miriama Street benefits from having additional vehicular access off Huia Street. PGG Wrightson Ltd has a three-year lease on the property, paying an annual rental of $74,860 plus GST and outgoings. The building has a New Building Standards rating of 45 percent. The freehold commercially zoned land and building at 29 Miriama Street in Taumaranui are being marketed for sale at auction on October 30 through Bayleys Hamilton. Salesperson Josh Smith said the physical positioning of the property’s building to one side of the address allowed for efficient access by delivery trucks and customers with trailers visiting PGG Wrightson for their supplies. “With a single master lease, the property has a substantial frontage onto Miriama Street -delivering prominent branding visibility to PGG Wrightson,” Smith said.

“PGG Wrightson’s retail activities take full advantage of the ample interior space within the large warehouse to showcase the trader’s full product range, sited under the high-stud ceiling with multiple vehicle entry points via roller door access.

“Comparatively, there are very few properties of this dynamic in the Taumaranui CBD – with most sustaining commercial entities on a much smaller scale, and certainly nothing with the sizeable building structure, yard space, and on-site parking facilities seen around the PGG premises.

“From a future-proofing investment aspect, this substantial flat yard space could, subject to council consent, be redeveloped into new commercial premises in a terraced configuration to house small trades-based businesses, or for the creation of a conveniently located self-storage operation,” Smith said.

“Meanwhile, the design and construction configuration of the single storey building structure at 29 Miriama Street means that in future it could potentially be subdivided into three or four standalone tenancies who could each share use of the substantial surrounding parking space and dual road entry points.”

Situated in the heart of the King Country, Taumaranui straddles State Highway 4, and has a relatively stable population of approximately 4,900 residents. The peaceful town and its full gamut of professional service providers and retail outlets support multiple smaller rural communities stretching from Otangiwai in the north down to Horopito in the south, and from Lake Taupo in the east across to Whangamomona in the west.

Ruapehu District Council’s Taumaranui Manunui Spatial Plan has specifically identified the Miriama Street locale as being crucial to the town centre’s revival by changing the over-arching commercial zoning to a mixed-use definition – allowing for a wider range of accommodation options to be developed in the compact central business district bordered by Hakiaha Street one block over.

“There are already numerous established residential dwellings dotted along the southern sector of Miriama Street, so in future the more centrally located property at number 29 could, again with appropriate council consenting, sustain mixed-use unit with the likes of small commercial floor plates on a lower level, and townhouse style residences above,” said Smith.

“Offering what would be a distinctive point of difference, there’s certainly nothing of note like that currently available to property purchasers looking for a work-from-home combo in central Taumaranui.”