There is going to be "a lot of building" at Te Rapa Gateway Business Park in the next 18 months to two years, NAI Harcourts sales consultant Theo de Leeuw says.

NAI Harcourts and Bayleys Real Estate are marketing the business park and de Leeuw said there had been a lot of interest among local and out-of-town businesses.

The park is being developed by Te Rapa Gateway, a subsidiary of Port Otago's Chalmers Properties.

So far about half of the park's 60-hectare southern precinct of 80 sections has been sold, with all but two sections along the central Arthur Porter Drive now taken.

Among those to take a stake are Hynds Pipe Systems, The Toolshed, a new centre for Foster Construction, Rollos Marine industrial tool and machinery supplier TopmaQ, and O'Brien Plumbing and Bathroomware.

The business park already hosts several large businesses, including Normans Transport, Lely and Bidvest. The larger northern precinct includes Southpac Trucks, Porters, a new build of Metal Craft Industries, a roofing manufacturer and packaging company Attwood.

Alex ten Hove and Andrew Shaw, are marketing the project for Bayleys, and said the zoning provided for a diverse range of warehousing, bulk storage, processing and manufacturing, with land well below Auckland prices.

"The land is ready to build on and is provided with all the latest infrastructure and services, including ultra-fast broadband."

Chalmers Properties sales and development manager Michael Clark said sites were engineered to meet the latest industrial requirements.

"Proposed bus and rail links close to the industrial park will be important to Gateway businesses and their staff working in the area," Clark said.

The park is also close to developing regional infrastructure, including Tainui Group Holdings' planned 500-hectare inland port at Ruakura.

Progress on the nearby Ports of Auckland-owned Horotiu inland port site has been a bit slow over winter due to wet conditions, according to spokesman Matt Ball.

The first sod was turned on the 33 hectare site in May.

"We've got all our resource consents for operating an inland port, lighting and buildings," he said.

"As things dry out we plan to progress work building hard stands and rail sidings and road access where we have an overbridge coming in from the east," Ball said.

Ports of Auckland has inland port freight hubs at Wiri, Horotiu, Mount Maunganui and Longburn near Palmerston North.

"The great thing about Horotiu is that it has immediate access to the main trunk rail line going north and south and is close to the existing businesses in the Horotiu and Te Rapa area."

Ball said Ports of Auckland had received interest from several businesses keen to take space at Horotiu, but their identities were confidential.

Thomas Gibbons, president of the Waikato branch of the Property Council of New Zealand, said a lot of good work was going on in Hamilton redeveloping existing buildings.

"Hamilton is a dynamic and growing place and there is lots of confidence in the city and the region.

"There is a general interest in redeveloping and refurbishing existing buildings. This is helping to attract quality tenants.

"This can be seen in the South Bloc building on the corner of Knox St and in the work going on in the River View mall which will feed into the development of Victoria on the River.

"It is good to see people are protecting and enhancing the heritage aspects of older buildings and giving them a new lease on life."

Key findings among data provided to the Hamilton City Council's infrastructure committee in August include new commercial and industrial consents tracking ahead of 2016 this year so far in both value and floor space.