Petrol station and foodcourt complex offering has investors pumped
The land and buildings housing the fuel station and convenience food court located at the apex of two of New Zealand’s
busiest highways have been placed on the market for sale.
The Caltex service station complex is positioned on the corner of State Highway One and State Highway 16 at Wellsford
north of Auckland – a location which has an average of some 12,000 vehicles driving past its entry and exit driveways
daily.
State Highway 16, also known as Port Albert Road, is the alternative route out of Auckland when State Highway One
becomes congested – normally on the stretch between the Johnstones Hill tunnels and the Matakana turn off at Warkworth.
Among the high profile food and beverage brands operating from the foodcourt adjacent to the Caltex fuel forecourt and
retail shop are McDonald’s, Jesters Pies and LJ’s Seafood, along with standalone takeaway Indian cuisine business Butter
Chicken Box and video game operator Time Out.
The land and buildings, but not the Caltex-branded fuel retailing business or foodcourt entities, are now being marketed
for sale by tender through Bayleys Warkworth, with tenders closing at 4pm on June 14.
Bayleys Warkworth salespeople Henry Napier and Dylan Tuner said the 540 square metre complex sat on 3352 square metres
of freehold land, and generated a combined annual net rental of $444,380 – making it ideally suitable for a passive
investment.
The individual tenancy schedule features:
• Caltex currently on a lease generating annual net rental of $184,468
• McDonalds on a lease generating annual net rental of $129,461
• LJ’s Seafood on a lease generating annual net rental of $55,436
• Jesters Pies on a lease generating annual net rental of $30,457
• Butter Chicken Box on a lease generating annual net rental of $25,000
and
• The Time Out Arcade gaming area paying $19,556 rental per annum.
Mr Napier said the Wellsford fuel and food businesses were symbiotic – driving customers to each other.
“Customer-use analysis over the years has shown a high portion of motorists filling up in the forecourt have passengers
in their vehicle simultaneously making food and beverage purchases while the refueling process takes place,” Mr Napier
said.
“The foodservice operations within the site benefit from the extremely high traffic count coming from two directions.
Despite being located on State Highway One, there is ample parking immediately outside the front door, a limited amount
of parking available in a corner of the service station forecourt, and more parking on the Port Albert route axis of the
property.
“For those motorists heading north who use State Highway One regularly, Wellsford is a popular stopping point - as they
know there’s not a lot of other roadside convenience food outlets between there and Whangarei.
“An engineer’s report on the premises indicates there have been few internal modifications to the layout since it was
constructed – indicting the mixed-used model has been working successfully with little need to change the tenancy mix.”
Mr Turner said the single-storey Caltex service station and convenience food complex was built in the 1990s on
reinforced concrete foundations, with steel reinforced block columns supporting an iron roof laid on steel purlins.
He said the service station canopy was a substantial structure built of conventional steel framing on eight columns and
is clearly visible from several hundred metres away because of its height prominence above the adjoining food complex.