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The "eagle's nest" - the country's highest apartment - has sold for $3.8 million after standing empty since it was built.
No one has ever lived in the apartment which takes up the entire level 38 under the tiered copper dome atop the Ascott Metropolis apartment tower in Auckland's CBD.
Metropolis developer Andrew Krukziener once owned the apartment with arguably Auckland's best views.
But he never lived on level 38.
So the 300sq m unit with generous 150sq m decks has remained literally a shell for almost 10 years, looking the same as the day the builders left the site.
The floor has never been divided into rooms, fitted out with kitchen or bathrooms or even had walls built through its vast interior.
Earlier this decade, accountants winding up part of Mr Krukziener's business sold the property after problems repaying investors who bought junk bonds which partly funded the distinctive spire-topped block.
Another businessman who bought the apartment never quite got around to shifting in either.
In February, Charles Shrimpton, aged in his early 30s, said he owned the pad but was quitting it.
He had bought levels 37 and 38, establishing offices on level 37 of Metropolis. He had planned to fit out the empty 38 as an apartment but instead shifted north of Auckland to a $5 million waterfront property.
He now lives at Hatfields Beach and is understood to have paid about $3.7 million for both Metropolis floors, making a big profit after the sale just announced.
Fiona Mackenzie of Kellands Real Estate has been marketing the eagle's nest for the past seven months. She said yesterday it had been sold to an Auckland businessman, property investor David Blackmore, who says he plans to fit the building out.
Ms Mckenzie said level 37 was still for sale and it could be used as either offices or an apartment.
Across town on the waterfront, the large apartment owned by Princes Wharf developer David Henderson is yet to sell. About $10 million is expected for the entire floor above the Hilton Hotel but as yet no buyers have emerged.
