Construction has been paused on Auckland's Seascape building, set to be NZ's tallest, but sales of the luxury apartments are still going ahead, says real estate agent for Sotheby's, Scarlett Wood.
Construction has been paused on Auckland's Seascape building, set to be NZ's tallest, but sales of the luxury apartments are still going ahead, says real estate agent for Sotheby's, Scarlett Wood.
Scarlett Wood and Tashunka Bolton will market Seascape to expats and international buyers in London.
Seascape’s completion is expected in early 2026, with apartments priced from nearly $1 million to more than $11m.
Work has stopped on New Zealand’s tallest apartment building, Auckland’s Seascape, but its multi million-dollar apartments are still on the market, with the hope wealthy Kiwis will snap them up.
Next month, Scarlett Wood of New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty, will head to Londonalong with Seascape’s developer Shundi Customs Ltd’s Tashunka Bolton, to market the luxury apartments to expat New Zealanders and high-worth international buyers.
The Herald reported last Friday that a dispute between builders China Construction and Shundi had caused work to cease on the $300 million 56-level Customs St skyscraper, which started construction in 2017.
Bolton handles sales and marketing for Shundi and told Spy the company’s project team was having confidential meetings with China Construction.
Shundi is actively exploring all possible options, Bolton says, and anticipates that construction may recommence over the next few months.
Scarlett Wood of Sotheby’s International Realty.
“We are fully committed to completing the Seascape development and are working diligently to protect the interests of all parties involved,” Bolton tells Spy.
“During this period of the site being paused, sales for the development will continue as planned,” says Bolton.
Apartments in the building range from a studio at just less than $1 million, a one bedroom from $1.4 million, two and three bedrooms for more than $2 and $3 million respectively, through to the penthouse collection, which are priced at more than $11 million.
An Auckland Council meeting regarding Seascape was held between Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson and the council’s building consent team on Wednesday afternoon.
“It is a normal part of the construction process for a building to stand with parts left open, since cladding a building of this size can take six months. Even so, council is monitoring the situation closely,” says Simpson.
Simpson tells Spy the site has had monthly inspections by building consent officers and these will continue.
Seascape is set to be New Zealand's tallest residential tower, reaching 56 storeys.
“On Friday building consent officers as well as structural engineers will go floor by floor to carefully inspect the building and ensure everything is safe and secure,” says Simpson.
Scarlett Wood, Sotheby’s senior director of international business, is staying optimistic, despite the recent uncertain developments.
Wood is also part of luxury affinity marketing group The Luxury Network New Zealand. Through Sotheby’s, she sells high-end real estate from Queenstown to Auckland and beyond.
She has had huge success with selling luxury apartments throughout Auckland, in particular The International on Princes St, which is understood to have also faced delays due to Covid.
Shundi Customs Ltd remains committed to completing Seascape, with a new completion target of early 2026.
A respected property insider told Spy that it is not unusual to still be selling apartments off the plan when construction work is paused, citing a number of previous stop/start residential builds in Auckland that have eventually come to fruition.
Wood says there has been good interest in Seascape from local and international markets.
“They are predominantly buyers from the US and Europe looking for an easy lock-and-leave while they escape the Northern Hemisphere winter,” says Wood.
Despite the delays in construction, Wood says the fact that Seascape enjoys foreign buyer exemption has huge appeal to an array of international buyers.
Shundi has an exemption to sell apartments to foreign buyers for Seascape and won the same exemption for its Shundi Tamaki Village development in St John’s, which consists of 10 multi-storey buildings.
Wood explains her overseas buyers’ list consists of people who are used to apartment and condominium living, and enjoy the convenience, safety and luxury amenities such projects as Seascape provide.
The Seascape penthouse apartments are priced at over $11 million.
“I am still going to London next month to promote Seascape, connecting with Kiwi expats and high net worth buyers globally,” says Wood.
Before London, Wood will head to Nashville in early September, to attend Sotheby’s International Realty’s Global Networking Event.
“In Nashville I will meet with many New Zealanders and North Americans with NZ residency, who have interest in owning something in New Zealand, especially with the exchange rate at the moment,” says Wood.
Seascape's developers are actively marketing the apartments to expat New Zealanders and high-net-worth individuals in London.
Wood is now selling the Seascape apartments with a completion date of early 2026.
