The high-profile land and building housing one of the most instantly recognisable cafes in New Zealand – featuring a
six-metre high Kiwiana soft drink bottle monument outside its front doors – has been placed on the market for sale.
The L Café Bar and Brasserie building in the Waikato township of Paeroa is located on the northern entrance to the town’s
central business district on the town’s main arterial route, State Highway Two which links the southern base of the
Bombay Hills and Tauranga.
The imposing L (Lemon and Paeroa) bottle monument outside the Seymour Street cafe is one of two such shrines to the classic New
Zealand soft-drink in Paeroa – with the other oversized effigy located at Paeroa’s southern boundary. The Seymour Street
bottle is illuminated at night by two powerful spotlights.
The Seymour Street property for sale has three tenancies within the premises, consisting of:The L Cafe, Bar and Brasserie on a lease running through to 2023 with a further three-year right of renewal, generating a
rental income of $54,365 plus GST and operating expensesCarpet and vinyl retailer Flooring Design on a lease running through to 2022 with three further three-year rights of
renewal, generating a rental income of $40,000 plus GST and operating expenses
andTwo digital billboards currently being erected above the Coromandel Floor Group portion of the building, which will be
operated by marketing company Globox on a lease generating a rental income of $25,000 plus GST.
Now the property at 2 Seymour Street is being jointly marketed for sale at auction on September 17 through Bayleys
Tauranga and Bayleys Hamilton. Salespeople Jo Stewart and Josh Smith said the corner site had huge profile on three
street frontages – Seymour Street, Taylor Avenue, and State Highway Two.
Smith said the property’s main entrance was off Seymour Street opposite the town’s colourful ‘welcome to Paeroa’ mural.
The 445-square metre building is located on 2,546 square metres of freehold land.
“Immediately behind the building is a one-way traffic system between the café’s outdoor seating area and the
neighbouring Farm Source tenancy. This provides café customers - and tourists taking photo snaps of the legendary L bottle - with peace of mind that their vehicle is being watched,” Smith said.
“The expanse of car parking spaces at 2 Seymour Street enables customers visiting both the café and the floorings shop
to find easy parking right outside the building.”
The single storey building is constructed of aluminium and timber framing. The L Café, Bar and Brassiere occupies the left portion of the premises, while Flooring Design fills the right side - with a
shared entrance and bathroom facilities in the centre.
The L Café Bar and Brasserie business underwent an extensive refurbishment in 2015 - which included the creation of a new
commercial-standard kitchen and complete modernisation of the café’s dining room decor.
Multiple seating options within the café cater to both large tour bus groups, and smaller groups of travellers. A
separate doorway accessed off the carpark via a well-presented raised concrete patio opens onto a casual seating area
with couches and tables.
Smith said that contemporary wooden dividers over granite floors added to the venue’s aesthetic, while a raised polished
wood section with bar leaners and stools bordered by a fresh picket fence at the rear completed the various ‘zones’.
Meanwhile next door, Flooring Design had transformed the retail space it occupies into a modern showroom - complete with
carpet and vinyl sample sections maximising the available space throughout open-plan display lay-out. Since commencing
trading at the site, Flooring Design has installed a new door and entranceway off the carpark to provide a separate and
second point of entry for customers.
Stewart said that a pair of six-metre wide by three-metre high digital billboards were currently being installed above
the Flooring Design portion of the building. One billboard will face towards Seymour Street while the second will
broadcast advertising over State Highway Two.
“The strategic location of 2 Seymour Street is evidenced by this recently signed lease to a billboard advertising agency
which has selected this location not only because of its high visibility at the northern entrance to Paeroa but also
because of the substantial traffic flow which passes directly in front of the property along State Highway Two on a
daily basis,” she said.