Lease at Northcote Point's The Wharf for sale. Photo / Doug Sherring
Lease at Northcote Point's The Wharf for sale. Photo / Doug Sherring
A 31-year terminating lease on an Auckland waterfront events, wedding and function centre is being sold in a deal which Colliers agent Roger Seavill says involves property investor Andrew Krukziener.
Auckland Council owns the land beneath Northcote’s The Wharf near the Auckland Harbour Bridge and leases it to a businesswhich gives that lessee the right to occupy and operate the building.
“Vacant possession with land lease till 2054 if renewals exercised,” says Seavill’s marketing.
Krukziener Properties lists The Wharf on its website under “our work” although the agent says that the business does not own the lease.
The 1886sq m property is instead leased to Mezzanine Capital whose sole director, according to the Companies Office, is Herne Bay’s Marc Aubrey Lindale.
But Seavill said Krukziener was helping out Lindale who has been unwell.
Krukziener Properties says: “Nestled on the shores of Auckland’s harbour, this iconic building has had a multi-million dollar transformation into a modern, designer function space with luxurious design features.”
The lease document included with Seavill’s marketing material showed Mezzanine leased the property for 14 years from March 2012, paying $24,500/year.
Inside The Wharf which has multi-purpose events and function spaces on three levels. Photo / Colliers
On top of that, annual rates are $38,000, insurance $30,000, air conditioning $15,000, hygiene and pest control $8000, lifts and lift phone $7500, water $6000, exterior cleaning $5000, repairs and maintenance $5000, building warrant of fitness and inspections $3000 and common area lights and power $2000.
All up, running fees are an annual $147,935 according to the Colliers’ information memorandum.
The property is at 2 Queen St and has 1190sq m of space spread over three levels. Offers are due by April 5 and it’s being marketed as a “rare waterfront function centre” with panoramic city and harbour views, with vacant possession until 2054.”
Marketing says the building has been running for 50 years and is a legendary landmark.
“The property has four unique venue spaces and has the capability to host a banquet, theatre-style, or cocktail events depending on which room is utilised with a capacity of up to 300 people for cocktail and theatre events or 260 for banquets,” Colliers says.
Former TV infomercial personality Suzanne Paul's Maori theme restaurant Rawaka in the former Fisherman's Wharf building some years ago. Photo / Michael Bradley
The property was run for many years as a restaurant and events centre but has been said to have blighted businesses, yet it’s in one of Auckland’s most picturesque settings.
The venue, established in the early 1970s, has had mixed success over the decades.
“I have noticed nothing strange,” said Collier’s Seavill of it today.
Yet Barbara Doyle and daughter Libby Daniels once operated it and said in 2004 that strange things had happened there, including deaths.
Few had succeeded in making money at what was then called Fisherman’s Wharf since it was first built and opened by restaurateur Bob Sell in 1971.
Barbara Doyle told nearly 20 years ago how she was bankrupted after opening Doyle’s restaurant there in 2000.
In 2008, the Herald reported how Andrew Krukziener and his wife Gitta invested in the building, teaming up with The Orange Group, which specialises in event management and reportedly ploughed $5m into a grand refurbishment initially expected to cost just $2m.
That involved installing New Zealand’s biggest chandelier, 6m by 6m, the central feature of the Grand View reception lounge.
They also decked the interiors with imported marble, installing new windows and doors and an LED multi-coloured ceiling disguised by carved fretwork.
The wedding reception of NZ Idol host Dominic Bowden, Saatchi & Saatchi’s Christmas party, the inaugural Spy Society Party, Vodafone awards, Ford Focus car launch, a Chivas Regal Whisky function and many other events have been held at The Wharf in a 10 month re-opening period around 2008.
Suzanne Paul turned the building into Rawaka, a Māori cabaret act with hangi and boat pick-up and return to the city.
But that did not succeed and creditors claimed more than $1m at the time.
