Calder Stewart developing $3b Hornby Quadrant industrial hub in Christchurch
Revolution Hills-headquartered real estate specialist Calder Stewart is halfway through developing a new $3 billion export, manufacturing and warehouse hub on Christchurch’s southern outskirts.
Ben Stewart, property director of the privately owned family business, said the Hornby Quadrant was a business park subdivision, 10km southwest of the city’s CBD.
The flat 150ha former agricultural site is near State Highway 1 and the Southern Motorway, with access points off Shands Rd and near Halswell Junction Rd.
Calder Stewart has its offices outside Milton, Otago but is also developing in Auckland.
It delivered $1.5b-plus of properties in the last three years and Stewart says it is now New Zealand’s largest developer and builder of industrial property.
Only about 80ha of the 150ha Hornby site remains to be built on, with the company having started work there 20 years ago.
“It could be another seven to 10 years or so to finish this but it depends on occupier demand.”
Of the 70ha, about half is tenanted, and half is owner/occupied. Calder Stewart associate FortHill owns a large proportion of the tenanted properties.
So far, three stages have been developed.
The fourth stage is a 30ha block where new buildings have been developed for the formerly Fonterra-owned Mainland Group, United Steel and others.
Rival IPORT business park is a $500m 122ha zone between Jones, Hoskyns and Maddison Roads south of Hornby. That was developed by the Carter Group.
Another rival in the area is the fast-expanding Airport Business Park at Christchurch Airport.
John Sax’s Waterloo Business Park near Templeton is a fourth rival to Calder Stewart.
Stewart said Hornby Quadrant’s fourth stage would be valued at about $500m once complete.
It is already home to major fast-moving consumer goods and distribution firms. Those include:
- Foodstuffs South Island’s distribution centre
- New buildings for six Fletcher Building subsidiaries,including Winstone Wallboards
- Bed business Sleepyhead
- Transport and truck business Penske
- Oji Fibre Solutions
- NZX-listed meal kit provider My Food Bag
- Dairyworks, which distributes about 80% of the country’s cheese through its chilled warehouse
Buildings of more than 40,000sq m or 4ha of internal floorspace can be developed on the land.
Calder Stewart either sells the buildings on completion or leases them long-term to the tenants.
Calder Stewart has been buying the site over the last few years, starting one block from Watties originally more than two decades ago.
Stewart said that despite Canterbury’s seemingly abundant land, much of it is not zoned for activities such as storage, warehouse or manufacturing.
Other areas lack essential infrastructure or are too far from key transport links, making them unsuitable for large-scale development.
Sam Stewart is a director and Ben’s brother.
Sam Stewart cited growing interest from global brands which recognise Christchurch as the distribution gateway to the South Island.
These businesses wanted connectivity, workforce availability and certainty around zoning, he said.
The quadrant is an easy drive from Lyttelton Port, Christchurch Airport, and major motorways so it has drawn strong interest from local and international firms, Sam Stewart said.
“We are in discussions with key international freight and distribution companies interested in establishing or expanding their South Island presence.
“Most of these businesses are household names, and having an operational presence in Christchurch is crucial for their wider business strategy,” Sam Stewart said.
Solar panels are a big feature at the site where giant power pylons in the national grid straddle the land, bringing electricity from the high country hydroelectric dams.
Ben Stewart said thousands of people worked at the quadrant at peak times but more would arrive soon as further projects were completed.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 26 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
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