For the first time in over 10 years there are large blocks of harbour side, industrial land available for purchase in Whangarei.
Port Nikau, formerly known as Port Whangarei, has been sold into private ownership, subdivided and is now offered for sale by the Port Nikau Joint Venture consortium. Included are the former main wharves, goods sheds, freight handling yards and the former Tenix ship yard.
Marketed by Peter Peeters of NAI Harcourts Whangarei, there are 18 lots of land currently available, which include three backing directly onto deep water, and a further 15 sites.
Peeters says they range in size from 3,800m² upwards, with a further 100 hectares yet to be subdivided.
As the land is zoned industrial and overlooks Whangarei Harbour, this opportunity is ideally suited for warehousing, transporting and engineering.
“Land prices are so favourable up here. As well as local interest, there will be a huge interest from Aucklanders looking to take advantage of the value for money, with the land able to be purchased from $100m²,” Peeters says.
Port Nikau is 3km from Whangarei’s CBD and is just 2 hours north of Auckland. The site is serviced by rail, road and sea.
Purchasers have access to three wharves and a commercial ramp for launch and retrieval, Peeters says.
The land has a deep layer of metal and consolidation from previous years and the ground level is high enough to make building levels easy to meet new standards. No storm water attenuation is required.
There is a new road with AC seal for high load turning trucks and there is the potential for future access over the hill, allowing two access routes into the Port Nikau area.
Options include purchase, lease to purchase, or the owners will build and lease back.
Peeters is also marketing what he calls some of the cheapest industrial land available in Northland. There is 4.806ha of land available on Marsden Point Road in Ruakaka.
Formerly owned by a forestry company and transport firm, and now surplus to requirement, the land is being sold for as little as $40 a square metre.
Peeters says the land sits midway between State Highway One and Port Marsden wharves, with close proximity to Whangarei City and within easy reach of Auckland.
Northland Port Corporation’s wharves have been relocated to Marsden Point and this has resulted in a large scale subdivision of surrounding land zoned for commercial and industrial use. Marsden Point will become an area of increasing significance as Northport Limited further develops its ability to handle a diverse range of cargoes.
Peeters says the 4.806ha he is marketing is zoned Business 4 (Heavy Industrial) and is a rear site screened from the road on a free draining base with a flat contour. This makes it ideal for the development of a contractor’s yard, mill site or other timber processing type business.
Sites are from 2000m² upwards, with a good selection of lot sizes available.
Peeters says Whangarei itself is experiencing robust economic growth, with its GDP rising by 3% last year. The Whangarei District has a population base of 80,000 with about 27,000 employees working for more than 6,500 businesses. The area generates approximately half of the Northland regional economy.