Children’s Advocacy Organisation’s Regional Headquarters Placed On The Market For Sale

The land and building housing the provincial headquarters for New Zealand’s largest child welfare and education advocacy organisation have been placed on the market for sale.

The Canterbury offices of Barnardos are housed within the fast-growing Northfield Business Park in the Christchurch suburb of Papanui. The organisation occupies some 456 square metres of space within building 5, 64 Langdons Road. The building also has an additional portion of 147 square metres of office space which is currently vacant.

With on-going support from the Government, Barnardos has had a presence in New Zealand for 60 years - providing social support services and early learning programmes to vulnerable children, in addition to guidance and counselling sessions to parents, wider family and communities.

Along with the Canterbury headquarters in Northfield Business Park, Barnardos also has regional offices in Whangarei, Auckland, Hamilton, Whanganui, Dunedin, and Invercargill.

Its Christchurch office at building 5, 64 Langdons Road is a two-storey office/showroom comprising 603.5 square metres on 1,322 square metres of freehold land.

The building was designed by leading Christchurch architecture firm Chris Wilson Architects with fit-out design input from Barnados’ property management division to ensure a tailor-made premises specific to the charity’s functional requirements. Barnardos is on a lease running through to 2025 with two further three-year rights of renewal.

The Langdons Road land and building is now being marketed for sale by negotiation through Bayleys Canterbury. Salesperson Murray Madgwick said that with 147 square metres of vacant space within the premises, it could suit either an owner-occupier looking for new commercial offices, or an investor looking to tenant the current vacant portion of the unit.

“The vacant ground floor space within building 5 faces onto Langdons Road and has the potential to accommodate either a retail or commercial tenant, or even a food and beverage operator,” said Madgwick.

“The property was built with a 10-metre set back from the pavement – allowing for the creation of either a showroom type area for the likes of outdoor furnishings and lifestyle products, or it could just as easily sustain a café with an expansive courtyard.

“From a commercial office space perspective, the vacant area could house a small to medium-sized professional services company – such as a law or accounting firm, an IT support business, or architectural design consultancy. Similar entities are already operating from adjacent premises.

“The property for sale includes 21 dedicated car parks which can be utilised by either staff or clientele. Barnados has 10 of those car parking sites.

“Adding in the vacant space at comparable per square metre values from premises in the immediate vicinity, building 5 has the potential to generate an assessed total income of approximately $200,000 per annum when fully tenanted,” Madgwick said.

The new Northfield Business Park commercial block in Christchurch's North- Western quarter has been constructed by Luney Developments. With stage one construction now completed along the Langdons Road frontage, several projects are underway in stage two of the hub.

The 3.6-hectare Northfield Business Park is zoned Commercial Retail Park in the revised Christchurch City Council Plan. The land use classification allows for a variety of uses including offices, showrooms and large format bulk retail outlets.

“Coupled with a planned expansion of the Northlands Mall, Papanui continues to grow its commercial property capacity – with Northfield Business Park being a cornerstone part of that growth,” Madgwick said.

“The six stand-alone buildings currently making up Northfield Business Park have a broad 275-metre frontage onto Langdons Road. Behind that commercial façade is a central tree-lined boulevard, with the northern and eastern boundaries fringed by more open green spaces to create an environmentally-attractive zone for employees working within the park.”

Neighbouring commercial tenancies already operating in the five Langdons Road-facing premises within Northfield Business Park include the Canterbury Trades Union Centre with some 1,400 metres of office space, a health laboratory, two IT services firms, a copy centre, a childcare facility, Ministry of Social Development offices, and an education support services provider.

Adjacent to Northfield Business Park is the new Northlink bulk retail centre which has seen a raft of national tenants take up space - including Briscoes, Rebel Sport, Mountain Warehouse, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Number 1 Fitness.

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