ITM building for sale nails it for investors

The land and buildings sustaining a substantial warehouse-style retail showroom and an adjoining timber products manufacturing plant – both occupied by businesses associated with one of the country’s biggest residential construction materials suppliers – have been placed on the market for sale.

The 14,410-square metre site is located at Kopu on the southern outskirts of Thames at the base of the Coromandel Peninsula. In addition to two tenanted buildings, the Kopu site also comprises a portion of bare flat land suitable for potential subdivision and development into a terraced ‘tradie’ premises format subject to council consents.

Currently, the address is exclusively tenanted by the Thames branch of national building supplies firm ITM which has some 90 retail sites throughout New Zealand from Kaitaia in the north through to Invercargill in the south – selling everything from joinery and decking timber and tools, through to paint, fencing, and insulation products. Two purpose-built buildings are situated on the site.

Built in 2018, the Kopu site’s modern a 616.75-square metre warehouse-format showroom features a high-stud retail floorplan, in addition to offices, staff lunchroom, and storage space. Meanwhile, an adjoining 2,799-square metre factory built in 2020 sustains a timber processing plant – with its frames and truss products supplying both the ITM business in Kopu, and sister ITM branches in Auckland.

The two businesses are operated by the same owner but are on separate leases.

The two individually operated ITM Kopu-linked entities on the block are on newly signed six-year leases, and both with two further six-year rights of renewal, generating a combined annual rental of circa $380,000 plus GST and operating expenses.

The freehold land and buildings located at 71 Kopu Road in Kopu are now being marketed for sale by tender through Bayleys, with the tender closing on October 30.

Salesperson Josh Smith says the duo of steel-framed buildings linked to ITM’s operations have IEP ratings of 100 percent, and will appeal to commercial property investors looking for a nationally branded tenant servicing multiple sectors of the construction chain in two different regions.

“Situated on the corner of Kopu Road and Millar Place, the block is zoned Industrial under the Thames-Coromandel District Council Plan, and is just a few hundred metres from State Highway 25. This location makes it extremely efficient for the truss and frame manufacturing plant to cut and supply product for the ITM branches some 75 minutes’ drive north in Auckland,” says Smith.

“The owners moved the truss and frame manufacturing business to the Kopu location specifically because of the cost efficiencies the site delivers. The modern manufacturing plant with its reinforced concrete flooring, steel framing, and iron cladding, has multiple

roller door access and exit points to allow for scaled fast delivery of ‘raw’ materials in, and the subsequent loading of finished product out – ideally sustaining the business within.

“Meanwhile, ITM’s chic Kopu retail operation features some 462 square metres of open-plan and highly functional ground floor space, with an additional 154 square metres of administrative and staff amenities first floor space – serving a customer base stretching towards Ngatea and Kerepehi to the south-west, Tapu to the north, and Pauanui to the east. It is the preferred building supplies depot for both the construction sector, and DIYers across the western side of the Coromandel Peninsula.

“Some 40 percent of the location’s yard space is sealed in asphalt and concrete, with the balance on a metalled base, all enclosed by electric fencing and lockable entry and exit gates,” Smith says.

“There are very few, if any, other properties in the immediate locale with this spectrum of both existing high-spec modern buildings which are tenanted, along with long-term development opportunities.”

Kopu is the hub of large commercial and industrial activity in the Greater Thames and Hauraki Plans catchment areas. Other big-name tenancies in the immediate vicinity around Kopu Road include multiple engineering firms, marine and automobile mechanics, and freight logistics operations.

As the gateway to the western side of Coromandel Peninsula, Thames has a population of approximately 7,200 residents