South Auckland’s newest retail shopping hub has opened – with more than 93 percent of the tenancy schedule already full.
The Hub precinct on Great South Road in Otahuhu features 16 retail premises sitting on 2221 square metres of land – on what was previously a conglomeration of a used car yard surrounded by a variety of automotive service businesses.
Among the branded tenants occupying space within The Hub complex are Cash Converters, which has signed up for 317 square metres of retail space.
The only remaining empty site at the Great South Road complex is a 90sqm premises which has been reserved for a café business – either with a stand-alone operator, or under a branded chain moniker.
Leasing agent, Geoff Wyatt from Bayleys Manukau said The Hub’s broad tenancy mix had been subscribed after giving close consideration to the Otahuhu Mainstreet & Commercial Association’s 2013 – 2018 Strategic Plan – which highlighted that the suburb suffered not only from failing to offer a varied retail mix, but also from poorly presented shop fronts.
The commercial report also indicated that central Otahuhu had “too many cheap shops” and too many “apathetic tenants.”
“Conscious of those comments in the association’s analysis, the developers of The Hub sought to tenant the destination with a broad range of tenants in a quality commercial centre. Being a new-build, the issue of operating in a run-down premises was simply not an issue at The Hub,” Wyatt said.
Similar sentiments on the need for upgrading the district’s commercial property scene also came to the fore in Auckland City Council’s Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Area Plan which laid down a pathway for urban growth in South-West Auckland over the coming 30 years.
The report identified that six key opportunities needed to be fulfilled to transform Māngere-Ōtāhuhu into a vibrant growth area. Otahuhu was spotlighted several times among the key opportunities with terms such as ‘revitalise and enhance’ used alongside the term “comprehensive redevelopment, planning and partnerships with major landowners.”
Wyatt said the rapid leasing process for The Hub reflected that retailers and business operators, in line with the developer’s thinking, had obviously recognised there was a need for such a new centre on the Otahuhu town centre fringe.
“Otahuhu is what urban planners describe as a ‘mature’ suburb. As a result, many of the retailing premises in and around the town centre date back to the early 1900s and pre-World War II – and while those buildings sustain a degree of town centre character, many have been neglected from a maintenance and aesthetics perspective over the past few decades,” he said.
“The Hub’s developers looked at regenerating and refurbishing various premises within the central heritage part of town, but after close analysis it was deemed to be far easier to start with a clean palate and deliver a new-build scenario instead.
“Integral to the decision was also the ability to deliver 75 car parks for customers and shoppers accessing retailers and service providers within The Hub.”
