The modern office building housing a medical lab that helped spearhead New Zealand’s COVID-19 response is up for sale in a popular Christchurch business park.

Also home to a national education support provider, the striking architecturally designed property sits in the Northfield Business Park in Papanui.

Its two full-floor office tenancies are fully leased generating a total net rental return of $160,516 plus outgoings and GST per annum.

Ground-floor tenant Awanui Labs is a medical diagnostic laboratory serving GPs, midwives and specialists across New Zealand. It lays claim to being the country’s leading provider of lab and pathology services, with 25,000 people interacting with its network every day. During the pandemic it delivered 40 percent of all COVID-19 testing nationally.

Awanui Labs pays an annual net rent of $75,162 plus outgoings and GST for its approximately 211-square-metre premises plus 11 car parks. The current lease runs through to 2028 with a further five-year right of renewal. The lease agreement provides for market rent reviews every 2.5 years including at renewal.

On Level One, Evaluation Associates provides professional learning and development support to the education professions nationwide. The organisation has supported improvement in the education sector since 1999. It works with schools and clusters of schools to improve leader and teacher practice in ways that help lift student achievement.

Evaluation Associates occupies its offices of some 222 square metres plus 10 car parks on a current lease that runs to 2028 with two further four-year rights of renewal. The lease generates a net rent of $85,345 plus outgoings and GST per annum with built-in market rent reviews every two years including at renewals.

The freehold property at 60 Langdons Road, Papanui, Christchurch, is now on the market for the first time since its construction nearly 10 years ago. It is being offered for sale through Murray Madgwick of Bayleys Canterbury as sole agent.

The site will be sold by deadline private treaty closing on Friday 26 April, unless it is sold earlier.

The property for sale encompasses a more than 430-square-metre building on some 1,339 square metres of land, zoned Commercial Retail Park under Christchurch’s district plan.

“Architecturally designed by respected local architects Wilson and Hill, this fully leased investment property offers a striking street presence amongst a row of buildings produced in the same architectural style, with a wide frontage to busy Langdons Road,” Madgwick said.

“Quality post-quake construction around 2015 has given it a seismic rating of 100 percent of new building standard. The generous 21 onsite car parks offer convenience seldom available in an office development of this size.

“The fact that both original tenants have recently renewed for a further term, providing a weighted average lease term of nearly four years, speaks volumes about the quality of this as a property and investment.

“Having two tenants splits the risk and, couple this with the pending ground floor rent review at the end of this year – the first since 2018 – and there’s clear upside to ownership,” said Madgwick.

The wider Northfield Business Park provides an attractive park-like environment with quality buildings throughout.

Madgwick said the development was home to a significant hub of medical-related tenants.

“These include the likes of the Canterbury-West Coast Cancer Society, BrainTree Wellness Centre, Mohs & Skin Cancer Specialist and other respected names. The tenants in the property for sale fit the profile for the Northfield community perfectly.

“Occupiers in this business park benefit from its location in Papanui, around five kilometres northeast of Christchurch’s city centre. Main arterial routes Main North Road and Harewood Road run through the suburb connecting to the CBD, Christchurch Airport, and the Industrial areas in the northwest,” Madgwick said.

Click here for more information on the listing.