Farm Source-anchored Kopu investment opportunity

A large rural warehousing retail showroom with extensive yard storage space – located adjacent to one of New Zealand’s premier dairy farming regions and occupied by one of the country’s biggest goods suppliers to the primary produce sector – has been placed on the market for sale.

The 3,568-square metre site is located at Kopu just south of Thames at the base of the Coromandel Peninsula directly over the river from the intensively dairy farmed Hauraki Plains.

The address is exclusively tenanted by farm supplies retailer Farm Source – the subsidiary retail trading arm of Fonterra Co-Operative Group Limited, which is New Zealand's largest company and the world’s largest dairy exporter.

The Farm Source retailing brand has set itself apart from competitors in the dairy farm supplies sector through a range of customer-focussed innovations – such as the inclusion of features ranging from drop-in lounges with complementary coffee, through to business amenities consisting of meeting and seminar rooms, and user-free high-speed Wi-Fi.

Most Fonterra customers are shareholders in the Farm Source cooperative entity – providing a loyal clientele to all Farm Source stores, including the Kopu location. The aim is to cement Farm Source branches as a ‘one stop’ farm services retailers - selling animal feed, shed supplies, hardware, fencing, clothing, animal husbandry and stock management equipment, agri-chemicals, machinery, fertiliser, livestock, and nutritional supplements.

The Kopu site’s well-maintained building is divided into a warehouse showroom, offices, lunchroom, and storage space. Overall, the 940.4-square metre warehousing and retail premises encompass 496.59-square metres of retail space, with an adjoining 238.81-square metres of high-stud warehouse space, and 210-square metres of offices and staff amenities – all surrounded by a sealed and fully enclosed yard with easy vehicle flow for efficient collection of products.

The freehold land and building located at 9 Ngati Maru Highway in Kopu are now being marketed for sale at auction on May 21 through Bayleys Thames. Salesperson Josh Smith said the steel-framed Farm Source building had an IEP rating of 85 percent, and would appeal to commercial property investors looking for a nationally branded tenant servicing a strong sector of the economy.

“The flat Ngati Maru Highway site benefits from a high-profile street frontage alongside one of the busiest roads in the Coromandel Peninsula. Energy generating solar panels were placed on the roof of the property in 2024 as part of a wider upgrade and refurbishment of the premises as a whole,” said Smith.

“The block is zoned Industrial 7A under the Thames Coromandel District Council Plan, with other big-name tenancies in the immediate vicinity including the likes of building suppliers Carters and Placemakers, logistics giant Mainfreight, as well as a plethora of local industrial firms with substantial yards, as well as machinery servicing plants,” said Smith.

Farm Source is on a soon to be renewed three-year lease at the Kopu site, with two further three-year rights of renewal – generating annual rental of $136,742 plus GST and operating expenses.

“The Kopu site’s rural sector customer base stretches down towards Ngatea and Kerepehi to the southwest, Tapu to the north, and Pauanui to the east. It is the preferred rural supplies depot for sheep and beef farmers operating on the western side of the Coromandel Peninsula,” said Smith.