One of the largest cool store complexes in Hawke’s Bay – operated by a global specialist in the distribution of chilled and frozen primary produce - has been placed on the market for sale.

The huge cool store facility on 1.5 hectares of land at 1A Kirkwood Road in the Hastings industrial suburb of Twyford is occupied by Emergent Cold - a global leader in the cold supply chain solutions industry. Hawke’s Bay’s plethora of large-scale and co-operative perishable fruit, vegetables and meat manufacturers and suppliers are Emergent Cold’s core clientele.

The company operates sites in New Zealand, Australia, Vietnam and Sri Lanka. In addition to the Hawke’s Bay plant, Emergent Cold operates sites in Auckland, Christchurch, Timaru and Dunedin – employing a total of 255 staff in New Zealand.

Emergent Cold bought out the New Zealand business and assets of Polarcold New Zealand last year, and is anticipating further expansion in the Asia Pacific region this year, including the construction of a substantial new plant in Peru.

The company’s leased 10,558 square metres of high-stud buildings at Kirkwood Road was built in the mid-to-late 1990s and consists of a myriad of drive-in blast freezers and chillers, refrigerated storage warehousing, a refrigeration plant and machinery room, and administrative offices.

Emergent Cold has a lease on the site until 2029, with two further six-year rights of renewal - generating annual rental of $666,629 plus GST. Rent reviews are linked to the consumer price index and are undertaken every two years, with Emergent Cold responsible for any plant and machinery maintenance expenses.

Now the Kirkwood Road property is being marketed for sale by deadline private treaty through Bayleys Hawke’s Bay, with offers being taken until March 5 unless the property sells prior. Salesperson Rollo Vavasour said the expansive facility had an overall new building standards rating of 70 percent.

“The location and sheer scale of this complex is ideal for such an operation – with Hawke’s Bay’s diversity in the rural production sector new encompassing pip fruit, stone fruit, and processed sheep and beef meat.”

More than 60 percent of New Zealand’s pip fruit crop is exported. Along with stone fruit – which is seeing a growth in apricot and cherry production out of Hawke’s Bay – offshore markets where chilled products are shipped out to include Australia, the USA, Europe, Korea, Thailand, Japan and China.

“With an ever-increasing number of hectares being converted to pip and stone fruit production in Hawke’s Bay, it’s obvious to see why, the tenant at Kirkwood Road has such a significant base to carry out its post harvest operations,” Mr Vavasour said.

Predominantly constructed of steel framing with insulated clad walls, and long-run iron roofing above concrete slab flooring, the complex of temperature-controlled warehousing units.

Mr Vavasour said the tenant’s imperative requirement to have consistently precise cold temperatures within the various warehousing plants, meant all the buildings were maintained to an extremely high level.

“Over the last two years for example, spouting and ceiling panels on some buildings within the complex have been replaced, new roofing has been installed, and there has been regular chemical spraying for mould and lichen removal,” he said.

“In the final quarter of last year alone, the tenant and landlord jointly agreed on the replacement of ceiling panels with thicker and more efficient framing, the installation of new energy-efficient LED lighting, and the upgrading of electrical wiring and switchboards.”

Neighbouring premises in the Kirkwood Road local reflect the growing importance of primary sector revenue’s within Hawke’s Bays wider economy, and include: Sacred hill Winery, Profruit Ltd, McCain Frozen Foods, Crasborn Packhouse and the Wine Works bottling plant.