A substantial plot of undeveloped ‘greenfield’ land – currently used as an engineering storage yard – in one of the Hawke’s Bay’s biggest industrial hubs has been placed on the market for sale.

The level regular-shaped block at 30-32 Mersey Street in the industrial Napier suburb of Pandora consists of some 9,105 square metres of leasehold land across two individual titles. The larger piece of land consists of 4931 square metres, while the smaller portion is 4,174 square metres.

The freehold property is zoned Main Industrial under the Napier City Council District Plan – a classification which allows for medium to large-scale industrial-focused workshops, manufacturing plants, and warehousing units, with a portion of office and retail space.

Pandora is Napier’s second largest industrial precinct after Onekawa – being in close proximity to the Port of Napier, Hawke’s Bay Airport, The Napier/Hastings Expressway, Ahuriri, and Napier CBD.

The property at 30-32 Mersey Street is being marketed for sale by deadline private treaty (unless sold prior) through Bayleys Napier, with offers closing on September 11. Salesperson Mark Evans said the property’s ‘greenfield’ status meant it had multiple development permutations for any new owner.

“The land is some of the last undeveloped ‘greenfield’ space available within Pandora – which is well established as an industrial area,” Evans said.

“It has the potential to be purchased by either an owner-occupier seeking storage space looking to continue the site’s existing use, or could be developed to sustain either warehousing or manufacturing tenancies in a raft of structural configurations depending on spatial requirements.

“With the land block comprising two separate titles – currently operating as one unified location – there is also the opportunity for a new owner to look at developing individual stand-alone premises on the two landholdings. Both titles deliver right-of-way access onto Mersey Street.

“The location of both sites having the majority of the land away from Mersey Street offers security and privacy for businesses not reliant on passing traffic profile. Wire fencing currently surrounds the property, with the provision to replace that with higher electrified or barbed wire security perimeter fencing around the blocks if required.

“Bearing that in mind and with appropriate council consents, the Mersey Street properties could – either individually or as a unified site – also be developed into a multi-unit location comprising multiple smaller terraced tilt-slab style tradie workplace depots or storage facilities.”

Evans said the deadline private treaty sale process allowed for potential buyers of the Mersey Street addresses to make offers on either block individually, or as a combined lot.

Premises within the wider Pandora precinct are characterised by a variety of industrial uses – including bulk storage depots, container storage sites, large warehousing properties, manufacturing plants, and engineering factories.

Located within Mersey Street are such businesses as container logistics firm Container Co, structural steel fabricator Red Steel, recreational marine craft manufacturer Dickey Boats, bridge and gantry tower manufacturer Eastbridge, industrial coatings firm Napier Sand Blasting, and meat processor Freshmeats.

“The site at 30-32 Mersey Street benefits from consented water protection to ensure minimal pooling during heavy rain periods, and has been hard filled to sustain regular use by large trucks carrying heavy loads,” Evans said.

“In its current state, the considerable amount of greenfield yard space could operate as a heavy vehicle depot unencumbered by any buildings, but with a virtual blank canvas to re-locate a portacom office unit onto any portion of the site.

“Such a tenancy would sit well within Pandora’s Main Industrial zoning. Recent changes to the roading network with Prebensen Drive and Ford Road in particular, have resulted in a marked increase in north-south traffic flows through Pandora from Onekawa. Those vehicles need somewhere to be parked securely.

“A heavy vehicle parking lot within Mersey Street could be operated by either a singular trucking firm operating a large fleet, or alternatively space could be let to multiple firms for heavy vehicle storage in the same way a car park operates.”