KEY POINTS:
Alinghi skipper Brad Butterworth is bulldozing a cute 1940s Waiheke Island bach to build a palatial new hideaway home worth more than $2 million.
And fellow former Team New Zealand skipper Russell Coutts is also coming home, buying up properties in Whangaparaoa, just north of Auckland, and in
Queenstown. While Coutts has an attractive offer to join the US America's Cup syndicate Oracle, he has also not ruled out the possibility of setting up a new New Zealand syndicate and having a defender's series for the next Cup, if Team New Zealand wins the event in Valencia this week.
Butterworth - a sailing veteran who has competed in three winning America's Cup syndicates - purchased the exclusive Waiheke waterfront spot in 1999 for $600,000 and last month secured an Auckland City Council building consent to have contractors begin work on his two-storey dream house.
Project manager and close friend, Peter Scott, said Butterworth was forking out the several million dollars to have the property built so he could hide away from the rat race. "They are private people and they love the island. This will be the place for them to get away from the mainland," Scott said.
He was not sure whether the residence would become Butterworth's fulltime base. "I don't know what Brad will do at the end of the Cup. If Team New Zealand win, then God, I really don't know. To be honest I don't think Brad knows what he will do."
Scott said the process to gain consent for the new home had been "lengthy" but they were now ready to start bulldozing down the existing bach to build "just another beach house", he said.
Architect Andrew Patterson said he had been sworn to secrecy about the project and been instructed by "Brad's representatives" that he couldn't talk about it with the Herald on Sunday. "What I can say is that we are very proud of the house," Patterson said.
Builder Peter Davidson - who admitted to being the island's builder engaged to work on the "big" and "famous" homes - said the Butterworth project was likely to be completed at the end of next year.
A smaller existing dwelling would be relocated to a new Waiheke home, he said, while another would have to be demolished. "It has to be taken down because we couldn't remove it in one piece because of the protected Pohutukawa trees in the area."
Between 16 and 25 builders would he hired to erect the home along with a further 15 tradesmen, like electricians and plumbers. Auckland City Council consent documents show that the exterior cladding will comprise of "local Waiheke stone veneel" and concrete plaster.
Neighbours of the former Team New Zealand yachtie said they weren't fazed that Butterworth was building on Waiheke, joining the island's long list of semi-famous and rich.
Meanwhile, Coutts has moved his family back to New Zealand, has bought properties and cars in Queenstown and Whangaparaoa, and is understood to be keen to make a life in New Zealand again after all the ructions around his defection to Alinghi.
Coutts is apparently keen for something that would again anchor him in New Zealand while allowing him to pursue business interests overseas. He has an attractive BMW Oracle offer in front of him but is waiting to see what his best option might be.
"He is keen to get back to New Zealand and he didn't like what happened after he went to Alinghi [the public backlash]," said a source close to Coutts. "He's basically a good guy."