Centre catches 'retail leakage'

By Chris Hutching

Friday 8th October 2004

A new $20 million retail complex in South Auckland is close to being fully leased ahead of its opening next week.

The $20 million Southgate Retail Centre in South Auckland, due to open next week, is nearly fully leased, mostly to national chains. Southgate is on the former Carter Holt Harvey site in Great South Rd, Takanini, where all but three of the 24 retail outlets have been leased, according to Mark Anderson, retail manager for Bayleys Real Estate.

The remaining store spaces, of 400-500sq m, would suit furniture, soft furnishings, fabrics, home décor or lightning retailers, he said.

The developer is Retail Holdings and its general manager, Darryl Henry, said about 150 people had been working on the site ahead of completion. He said Retail Holdings worked closely with Papakura District Council to complement the strengths of the Papakura town centre. The council's retail strategy guidelines included being on a major arterial road, easy access, large parking areas, and "being positioned to capture retail expenditure leakage." He estimated local residents were spending $135 million outside their area.

The centre has a homeware focus, with tenants including Briscoes, Bed Bath and Beyond, Hill & Stewart, Stationery City, Betta Electrical, Plastic Box, Repco and Video Ezy. The anchor tenant, taking 11,000sq m, is a new Mitre 10 Mega store owned and operated by John Christie, owner of Mitre 10 Papakura. The Mega store includes a garden centre, drive-through timber yard, home improvement products and a café.

Foods outlets also feature strongly, with BB's Espresso, Pizza Hutt, Subway and The Cheesecake Shop part of the mix.

In total the Southgate stores cover about 21,000sq m of space (compared with the 50,000sq m-odd of many larger destination shopping centres). There are 580 car parks and the target catchment is Papakura, Takanini and Hingaia.

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