KEY POINTS:
Only two units of 149 in a $100 million upmarket apartment block on top of Auckland's Stamford Plaza have been sold.
The Stamford Residences in Albert St were completed last year, but have been slow to sell in the tough market.
In early November, when the Herald visited the residences, Stamford Property Services director of development and construction Anthony Rice said it had issued 11 sales contracts but had not made any sales. Yesterday he did not return
several calls.
An administration worker in the office of the Stamford Residences confirmed two sales had been completed and the owners had moved in.
But Sue Chapman, who is marketing the apartments in conjunction
with Colliers International, said the company was not in a position to report its sales and did not wish to talk about it at this stage.
She said the company planned to re-launch its marketing campaign on January 24 after a break over the Christmas period.
Chapman said the campaign would be timed to coincide with Auckland moving into a busier period, as well as the lead-up to the Louis Vuitton sailing regatta in February.
Last year the annual body corporate fees were about $12,000 for each unit and prices ranged between $385,000 and $6 million.
Singaporean owners Stamford Land Corporation decided to add
the 10 extra floors to the hotel when Auckland land prices were rising and the apartment market was booming.
The company closed the hotel for a few months to allow Fletcher Construction to strengthen the foundations and then built the additional floors on top of the 11-storey hotel.
But apartment market buyers have been few and far between.
In 2006 Bayleys tried to sell the apartments, then Kellands Real Estate marketed units and Colliers came on board in November.
Three years ago, the project was called Stamford on Albert and Bayleys were asking $9.2 million for the penthouse. Before Christmas, Colliers was asking $6 million for the penthouse.
