Airport logistics up land prices

By Christine Nikiel

Friday 21st June 2002

The last major piece of industrial land at Auckland's Airport Oaks is about to be sold, with just a handful of sites remaining.

Commercial and industrial developer Phoenix Properties has entered an unconditional agreement to buy 35ha of land from BHP.

The land, bordered by main airport link George Bolt Memorial Dr, Montgomerie Rd and the Thrifty Car Rentals site, was part of BHP's superannuation fund.

Phoenix director Terry Mikkelson said financial details of the deal were confidential.

But market sources noted an Airport Oaks corner site recently sold for $120 a sq m, which would have set new price levels for land in that area.

Property developers Chris Verissimo and Dick Langridge were understood to have paid close to $8 million for 49ha of land on nearby Westney Rd recently. Mr Verissimo and Mr Langridge have no immediate plans to develop the land.

There are now just a handful of Airport Oaks sites left on the market, including 2.9ha owned by BHP and sites owned by construction company Watson Hughes. Auckland International Airport has earmarked about 200ha of the 1600ha it owns for its own commercial development.

The Airport Oaks area is a magnet for logistics companies, with multinationals such as Hellmann Logistics, Mainfreight and Danzas AEI tenanted there.

Auckland International Airport general manager commercial Murray Barclay said the past few years had seen more logistics companies moving into the area, with BAX Global, Excel and Express International all Airport Oaks tenants.

"When land was first taken up there it was by freight forwarders. Now they're setting up logistics operations themselves," he said.

Prospective tenants were looking at more than just rental costs, Colliers industrial broker Nigel Ingham said. One tenant had opted to pay more for a piece of land because it had better access to George Bolt Memorial Dr and would be more cost-efficient transport-wise.

"Tenants are looking at how property impacts on their business," he said. Land values at Airport Oaks averaged $90 a sq m, while a site with good road-frontage exposure was worth up to $120 a sq m, Mr Ingham said.

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