Wakefield property sells to local investor

The Property
• 6,012sqm landholding across two titles in prime main road location
• Buildings span both titles, with a significant portion of vacant land offering potential redevelopment opportunity if re-zoned in the future
• Three retail tenancies, fully-leased to two business occupiers – a popular bakery/cafe and Bayleys real estate offices
• Returning net income of $52,470 per annum
• Generous carparking

Quick Look
• National Total Property marketing campaign – by deadline sale
• Interest generated via Bayleys’ databases and Total Property magazine
• Robust enquiry, with local investors making up around 80% of interested parties
• SOLD for $1,250,000
• Purchased by a local investor to add to an existing commercial property portfolio

The Story

This character-filled property in Wakefield, 25 km south west of Nelson, attracted a lot of attention when it came to the market – thanks to its sound leasing history and the spare land around the existing buildings which straddle both titles.

Lydia Heyward of Bayleys Wakefield knows the property inside and out as it’s where her real estate desk is located. The local Bayleys office occupies one of the retail tenancies and she can vouch for the neighbouring bakery’s popularity, too.

“The property was appealing to investors as the existing buildings only occupy around 30 percent of the 6,012sqm site,” she explained.

“While much of that land is essentially a large paddock that has a boundary with the Wakefield Recreation Reserve, a zoning change would have to occur for it to be further developed.

“As a long-term hold, this resonated with the purchaser who has farming connections within the district.”

Lydia said in the interim, there is an add-value component to the property as an extension to the existing building could be undertaken to provide upgraded facilities for the bakery tenant.

“The majority of interest in the property came from local investors who recognised the inherent potential value of the land in future years.”

Vendor Comment

Vendor Cynthia Martin said the decision to sell with Bayleys was based on the agent’s local knowledge and familiarity with the property.

The Clifford Road property had been in Martin family ownership since the early 1900s and in its lifetime, has had a colourful history.

“The original building was used as a butchery, with cattle mustered from as far away as Lake Rotoiti and driven to Wakefield,” said Cynthia.

“As the property had two titles, two additional shops were built on the site back in in 2003-2004 and with its main road frontage and good car parking for customers, it’s been an attractive property for food businesses, like the very successful bakery that occupies these newer premises today.

“After the Christchurch earthquake event, the butchery premise was gutted and strengthened and today is occupied by Bayleys.”

Cynthia said after years of developing and managing the site, it was time to move on and given Bayleys was a tenant business in the property, she engaged Lydia to market the offering.

“Lydia had first-hand knowledge of the buildings and of the surrounding land area, which I believe was essential to the sale process.

“In a fluctuating market it’s always hard to know what a property will sell for, but after a good marketing campaign the right buyer stepped forward with an acceptable offer which fell within my expected price range.”

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