City’s Tallest Office Block Placed On The Market For Sale

The tallest commercial office block in Hastings – housing 29 tenancies spanning multiple professions and topped off with New Zealand Police service radio signal transmission aerials - has been placed on market for sale.

The five-storey block at 215 Railway Road in the city’s central business district – was built in the 1960s and consists of a 2,920-square metre building sitting on a total of some 1,242-square metres of freehold land zoned Central Commercial under the Hastings District Council plan.

The list of tenants located within the building reads like a ‘who’s-who’ of the city’s small business fraternity – with legal firms such as Cliff Church Lega, Gresson Grayson Ltd, David Oliver Employment Law, and the Hawke’s Bay Community Law Centre, alongside financial services practice Girvan Accounting.

A range of mental health advisory and psychological counselling services also lease office space in the tower. Tenancy spaces within the tower ranges from 8.4-square metres for a document storage room, up to 232-square metres for one of the legal practices.

Combined, the freehold building generates net rental income of $144,684 plus GST per annum. Now the Railway Road land and building are being marketed for sale by private treaty through Bayleys Havelock North, with offers closing on April 10. Salespeople Daniel Moffitt and Jake Smith said the property contained the most diversified tenancy schedule in the city.

“Over the years, the building has attracted like-minded tenancies across multiple business sectors – partly because of its location, partly because it is such a landmark in the city, and partly because of its format as a purely commercial structure,” Mr Moffitt said.

“Public entry to companies with the Railway Road office is through a pair of double glass doors which lead into the main ground floor lobby. The building’s upper levels are then accessed by a pair of lifts, and a stairwell.

“Most of the tenants within 215 Railway Road have been in occupancy for several years – making for a steady rental portfolio. The majority of tenants have rights of renewal clauses in their leases – reflecting their requirement to be accommodated in a stable corporate environment close to customer base.”

Mr Smith said the building’s height above other commercial structures in Hastings meant it was the preferred property for telecommunications relay transmitters operated by the New Zealand Police whose Hasting station was located immediately next door.

Adding to the legal and judiciary dynamics of the block, Hastings District Court is also diagonally opposite the Railway Road tower.

“The proximity of the police holding cells and the courtrooms probably has quite a bit to do with why there are so many legal firms and counselling service providers in the Railway Road building ….. because that’s where a lot of their business originates from,” Mr Smith said.

Built on reinforced concrete foundations, with reinforced concrete slab and precast concrete flooring within reinforced concrete columns supporting the walls, the building has a new build standards (NBS) rating of 47.1 percent.

The site has parking for 23 vehicles – eight at the rear of the of building and an additional 15 spaces on a parcel of land located on Lyndon Road West but included in the bigger 215 Railway Road property title.

Mr Smith said most of those car parking spots were reserved for use by tenants within the block, however, clientele visiting the various service providers within the property did have access to unmetered street parking on both sides of Lyndon Road West immediately outside the building’s front doors.

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