Sold: Pukerangi Cres, Ellerslie. Owned by Nathan retailing family.
Sold: Pukerangi Cres, Ellerslie. Owned by Nathan retailing family.
Luxury properties on offer in Auckland hot spots include castle and clifftop mansions
Got a spare $10 million or so to take a flutter on an Auckland mansion? Or just keen to know how the city's rich and famous live?
Some of Auckland's most luxurious houses could be changing hands this summer. The would-be sellers include a Queen's Counsel, the man who created Britomart and one of the city's most successful luxury car salesmen.
The places for sale range from a sprawling Hauraki Corner/Belmont castle-style home with twin grand entrance-way pillars and human-sized ginger jars to a relatively humble place sitting on what is being advertised as a development site, one property back from Takapuna Beach.
The Weekend Herald took a tour through some of the city's top real estate agents' listings and found plenty to whet the appetite.
In Takapuna, Britomart developer Peter Cooper is selling an exclusive Clifton Rd property via Precision's Tom Kane, asking $3.6 million for a minimalist house by renowned architect and NZ Institute of Architects president Pip Cheshire with interior design and furnishings by Terry Hunziker of Seattle. The place is just one back from the water on a clifftop.
Mr Kane is also selling the even more luxurious home of Slingshot founder Annette Presley and her partner, adman Marco Marinkovich, in Ewen St on the southern end of Takapuna Beach.
The sea-front house, designed by Simon Carnachan, is on a generous 986sq m site and has five bedrooms, five en suites and an office.
Graham Wall and his son Ollie, who has just left the advertising world for real estate, list many of the city's most expensive places on their website. Late last year, Graham Wall sold the Nathan family's Ellerslie home at Pukerangi Cres for $6.5 million, which he said this week was a record for the area.
He also handled New Zealand's biggest house sale in 2013, the $39 million Paritai Drive home partly financed by Hanover's Mark Hotchin to Oravida founder Deyi Shi.
Top of the current list and on the market for $35 million is the fortress-style Hauraki home of business couple Cameron and Tracey Gregory.
The clifftop site is nearly a half-hectare with a 1730sq m house - more than eight times the size of a normal large house.
It crouches behind a high fence with tall metal gates, giving a glimpse inside of a world of luxury.
Mr Gregory owned a third of glass supplier Metro GlassTech and the property is advertised as "absolute waterfront ... of the highest-quality materials and craftsmanship ever seen in New Zealand. Luxurious family accommodation in what is probably New Zealand's most valuable home." No address is given but the home is in top-end Clifton Rd.
On the market: Ewen Street, Takapuna. Owned by Annette Presley and Marco Marinkovich.
At the other end of the scale is Blomfield Spa in the centre of Takapuna, to be auctioned on February 14 and listed as a 675sq m development site. No picture is shown of the house, just an aerial map with its close proximity to one of the city's most popular beaches.
The property is supposedly worth more than $2 million but prime location can drive prices much higher. In the last few days an empty site in Burwood Cres, Remuera, sold for $11 million.
The home of well-known Auckland motor vehicle dealer Bob McMillan is for sale in Parnell. Mr McMillan last year announced his retirement from the industry and sold his remaining stake in Team McMillan BMW.
The property of Queen's Counsel Michael Ring is also for sale. The modern three-level St Heliers home comes complete with a vast pool and a palm tree-lined tennis court.
Even Mayor Len Brown has joined the house-selling stakes. Two weeks ago, he announced that he and the mayoress, Shan Inglis, had sold their sprawling $1.75 million Tiffany Close place in Manukau and were on the lookout for a new home.
