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Exit & relocation
Service provider
Auckland
The result
from first engaging PPG to operating in the new premises, lease expiry and all, mid-pandemic.
A new Auckland distribution centre secured in a 3% vacancy market, on a competitive rent with a substantial rent-free period, landlord office fit-out and flexible terms, with the old-site exit coordinated around it.
Greenbox — Australasian IT asset management & recycling
Service provider (industrial distribution premises)
Auckland distribution centre
Exit & relocation (lease expiry, new lease + transition)
Exit an expiring lease with no extension and relocate the distribution centre before the clock ran out.
The situation
Greenbox manages the full life of IT assets, from sourcing and installation through to data sanitisation and disposal, across distribution centres in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Auckland. The Auckland site was critical to the operation.
Its lease was expiring within 3 months, with no option to extend. CEO Daniel Pritchard needed a new distribution centre found, leased and running before the clock ran out. And it was 2020.
What was at stake
When a lease expires with no right of renewal, the tenant has no leverage and no fallback. Stay past expiry and you’re on holdover terms the landlord sets. Fail to find a new site in time and the operation stops.
For a distribution centre, that means client assets, data security and live contracts riding on whether a new building is fitted out and running in time.
Covid made the search brutal. Industrial vacancy sat around 3%, so there was almost nothing on the market, and restrictions slowed every consent and fit-out along the way.
Racking, power and compliance for a facility like this take time the calendar didn’t have.
What we did
Daniel brought in Marcus from Proactive Property Group to source the new premises, negotiate the lease, and run the whole transition. Engaged at the onset, the plan was built to beat the expiry date, not chase it.
Worked with the Greenbox team to build a tight premises brief, then evaluated 19 industrial sites and narrowed them to the three that actually fit, so no time went into chasing the wrong buildings.
Secured the preferred site and closed the lease in 8 weeks, even in a 3% vacancy market, with a competitive rent, a substantial rent-free period, landlord office fit-out and flexible terms.
Mapped every stage on a single schedule: new-premises fit-out, physical relocation, defit of the old site, reinstatement and handback, so the exit and the move never collided.
Negotiated to install racking while the building consent was still processing, pulling weeks out of a timeline the deadline didn’t allow.
The result
Despite the deadline, the vacancy shortage and the pandemic, Greenbox moved into its new Auckland distribution centre 94 days after engaging Proactive Property Group, with these wins on the new lease:
From engagement to operating in the new premises.
In a market with roughly 3% industrial vacancy.
Negotiated even under deadline pressure.
Real cost relief while getting the site set up.
The landlord carried the office fit-out cost.
Room to adapt as the business changes.
The pressure in an exit like this is the deadline. A lease ending with no extension puts the tenant on the back foot, and a thin market and a pandemic made it worse. Locking in the new site early, then coordinating the old-site exit around it, is what turned a forced move into a controlled one, with the business trading throughout.
If you’re facing a lease expiry
A lease with no renewal is a countdown. The tenant with nowhere to go takes whatever terms are left, and a tight market only shortens the clock. The move that works starts early: line up the new site before the old one forces your hand, and run the exit and the entry on one timeline so neither slips.
About the adviser
Marcus has spent 20 years acting for tenants across New Zealand and the East Coast of Australia — finding premises, negotiating leases and managing property costs across the full lease lifecycle. Having sat on both sides of the table as landlord and tenant, he negotiates commercial terms most tenants only sign once or twice in the life of their business.
More proof
A bigger office with more parking, a capped personal guarantee and real exit flexibility, on a lease that beat the firm’s existing landlord’s renewal offer.
Lower entry costs, rent-free and fit-out-free startup periods, and personal guarantees cut or removed, so every franchisee opened on solid footing.
A bigger landlord fit-out contribution, an exclusivity clause, limited personal liability and relocation risk removed, all inside two months.
A lease ending with no extension is a deadline, not a disaster, if you start early. Tell me your expiry date and I’ll map the exit and the new site on one timeline, before the clock forces your hand.
