Investors Fizzing Over Landmark L&P Premises

The prominent land and building sustaining of one of New Zealand’s most instantly recognisable man-made roadside landmarks – as well as a diverse pair of revenue-generating tenancies – have been placed on the market for sale.

The Paeroa Café, Bar & Brasserie building in the Waikato township of Paeroa is located on the northern entrance to the town’s central business district on the town’s main arterial route, State Highway Two, which links the southern base of the Bombay Hills and Tauranga.

Immediately outside the foodservice venue is the famous Kiwiana six-metre-high Lemon and Paeroa soft drink bottle monument. The imposing L&P bottle is one of two such shrines to the classic New Zealand soft-drink in Paeroa – with the other oversized beverage effigy located at Paeroa’s southern boundary.

The Seymour Street bottle is illuminated at night by two powerful spotlights, and attracts hundreds of photo-taking tourists to its base weekly. Adjacent to the crowd-pulling monument is a commercial premises which sustains three tenancies generating a combined annual rental income of $105,000 plus GST and outgoings, and, encompassing: · The Paeroa Cafe, Bar & Brasserie on a current lease running through to later this year, with a further eight three-year rights of renewal · Self-service washing machine and dryer business Ace Laundromat on a current lease running through to 2028 with three further five-year rights of renewal and · A substantial LED digital billboard which is operated by marketing company Globox Outdoor Digital Billboards on a current lease running through to later this year, with a further two five-year rights of renewal.

Now the property at 2 Seymour Street, opposite the colourful ‘Welcome to Paeroa’ mural, is being marketed for sale at auction on September 3 through Bayleys Ngatea. Salesperson Josh Smith said the prominent and highly visible corner site had huge exposure on three street frontages – Seymour Street, Taylor Avenue, and State Highway Two. The 445-square metre building is located on 2,546 square metres of freehold land.

“The strategic location of 2 Seymour Street is evidenced by the lease to a national billboard advertising agency which selected this location not only because of its high visibility at the northern entrance to Paeroa, but also because of the substantial traffic flow which passes directly in front of the property along State Highway Two on a daily basis,” Smith said.

“The expanse of car parking spaces at 2 Seymour Street enables customers visiting both the café and the self-service laundromat to find easy parking right outside the building.

“Immediately behind the building is a one-way traffic system between the café’s outdoor seating area and a neighbouring lighting retail premises and warehouse,” Smith said.

The single storey building at 2 Seymour Street is constructed of aluminium and timber framing. The Paeroa Café, Bar & Brassiere occupies the left portion of the premises, while Ace Laundromat fills the right side – with a shared entrance and bathroom facilities in the centre.

The Paeroa Café Bar & Brasserie portion of the building underwent an extensive refurbishment in 2015 – which included the creation of a new commercial-standard kitchen, and complete modernisation of the café’s dining room decor. Multiple seating options within the café now cater to both large tour bus groups, and smaller groups of travellers. A separate doorway accessed off the carpark via a well-presented raised concrete patio opens onto a casual seating area with couches and tables.

Smith said that contemporary wooden dividers over granite floors added to the venue’s welcoming aesthetic, while a raised polished wood section with bar leaners and stools bordered by a fresh picket fence at the rear completed the various ‘zones’.

Meanwhile next door, Ace Laundromat contains rows of whirring commercial washing machines and dryers providing time-pressed customers with an efficient cleaning service for clothing and Manchester fabrics. The business draws on a considerable customer base from within Paeroa.

A six-metre wide by three-metre-high digital billboard above the Ace Laundromat portion of the building showcases considerable exposure for advertising businesses on it.

Smith said Paeroa’s on-going population growth over the past 10-years had been primarily underpinned by significant residential expansion at two housing subdivisions within the town, which have seen hundreds of new residential dwellings built, and more planned within the Paeroa Hills subdivision at the former horse racecourse on State Highway 26 just a kilometre away.

Concurrent with this housing stock growth, a collaboration between the Assisting Different Abilities Trust and the Supported Life Style Hauraki Trust has just announced its planned construction of a $12-million housing development within the Paeroa Hills subdivision, which will be specifically habitable for residents with intellectual and physical disabilities. The project will encompass 14 one and two-bedroom units.