Barkers' cinema up for sale

Dean and Mandy Barker want to diversify investments. Photo / Herald on Sunday

Glamour couple Dean and Mandy Barker have put their multi-million-dollar cinema complex up for sale.

Purchased with business partner Wayne Anderson for more than $4 million in 2007, the Team New Zealand skipper and his wife are selling the five-theatre Hoyts cinema at Whangaparaoa, on the Hibiscus Coast, by private negotiation.

Anderson, an Auckland accountant, said the couple were looking to spread their investments.

"It was a group decision. We discussed it and we thought it would be a sensible idea not to have all our eggs in one basket.

"But we are not desperate to sell or anything. If we don't get the price we are looking for, we will hold on to it."

Bayleys agent Stuart Bode said the high-end commercial property sector had recovered well since the recession and there had been strong interest in the cinema.

"I have managed to sell a lot of property recently around Auckland city and the city fringe. I couldn't say how much it will go for, I don't want to preempt what the market will do."

The cinema is leased to Hoyts for $350,000 plus GST a year until 2018, with an optional extension to 2027. Anderson was hoping to gain a standard yield of 8 per cent. The cinema was formerly leased by Berkeley Cinema Group, which was bought by Hoyts in March.

Barker, 38, is racing with Team New Zealand at the Louis Vuitton regatta in La Maddalena, Italy, and could not be reached for comment. Former Black Sticks star Mandy runs her own maternity clothing label, Mama2b.

The couple, who have three daughters Mia, Olivia and Isla, own a home in Auckland's Herne Bay. They also have a holiday home at Omaha beach, where Prime Minister John Key and fashion designer Trelise Cooper also have getaways.


bevan.hurley@hos.co.nz