The Waimaire St properties once owned by Greg Olliver and his ex-wife Sarah Sparks. Photo/supplied.
The Waimaire St properties once owned by Greg Olliver and his ex-wife Sarah Sparks. Photo/supplied.
A $15 million property in St Heliers is on the market as a long-running legal dispute over its sale draws to a close.
The 8945sq m block on Waimarie Street, made up of nine sections, most of which have stood largely vacant for years, has been listed for sale under instructions by KPMG liquidators.
The properties, which combined have a rating valuation of $15.64m, has been at the centre of several legal battles over the last four years.
The disputes began after former owners Sarah Sparks and Greg Olliver separated in 2012. They divorced in 2014.
Olliver bought the Waimarie properties in 2007 with plans of developing luxury apartments. Apart from some initial ground excavations, this vision was never fulfilled.
In 2009 the property developer's large debt saw him narrowly dodge insolvency. During this time he sold the property to the current owners CIT Holdings - of which he is the sole director.
In March 2016 the company was put into liquidation after Inland Revenue Department made a successful claim in the High Court at Auckland over unpaid taxes.
The first KPMG liquidators' report in 2016 showed CIT Holdings owed the IRD $383,630.
A receivers' report undertaken by Insolvency Management and dated June 6, 2017, showed the company also owed the Bank of New Zealand $13,523,622.07 - more than double the initial mortgage taken out in 2009 of $6.75m.
Sarah Sparks is relieved the court battles appear to be over.
BNZ had earlier sought to sell the property as a mortgagee sale to get what it was owed, but Sparks fought this in the courts as she wanted the properties sold at market value.
The latest court judgement granted the liquidators the rights to its sale and the properties have been put on the market for sale through an international tender process.
Tenders for the property close at 4pm on November 8 with it being jointly marketed by Bayleys Auckland commercial and residential salespeople, Mike Adams, Cameron Melhuish and David Rainbow.
Sparks, who is renting a house in Titirangi, was relieved the court battles appeared to finally be over and was ready to move on.
"I have been in the courts since 2012, it hasn't been easy," she said. "It's been challenging, but I haven't been facing a health crisis, so we have got to put it in perspective."
Once the property was sold her understanding was the debts would be paid off and the distribution of any remaining assets would be determined by the liquidators.
Despite the fallout over the properties Sparks said there were still good memories from their time there as a family.
She recalled Easter Egg hunts and many "special whanau moments" on the St Heliers' properties, which she described as just "magic".
The views from the Waimaire St properties. Photo / Supplied
Bayleys' Mike Adams said while the properties could be bought separately it was most likely residential property developers would submit tenders for the unified block.
"Very rarely does a landholding of this size in such a commanding and prominent position come onto the market for sale."
Adams said it was difficult to put a price on what the properties combined could reach, due to its sheer size and scale, combined with its residential development potentials.
The land is in a zoned residential and mixed housing suburban area which allows for the building of one or two-storey standalone homes in various densities, dependent on the section sizes.
Olliver did not reply to messages from the Weekend Herald.
