Property developer and NBR Rich Lister Ted Manson has placed two of his four St Heliers properties on the block as 'surplus to requirements'.
Ted Manson.
Manson, the founder of Mansons TCLM, has held onto 12 Goldie St since 2013, when he purchased the 59-year-old home from civils and engineering contractor John Fillmore and wife Heather, also purchasing the adjoining properties at the same time and adding number eight that same year.
Mansons TCLM is the most active commercial developer in the country, and most recently developed and opened the $650 million Spark headquarters at 50 Albert Street.
The understated St Heliers properties could set a new highwater mark for development sites in the upmarket East Auckland suburb.
Barfoot & Thompson realtor Paul Neshausen expects the two recently listed properties to come in at a combined $7.5 million. Manson, however, is keen to sell both or either, and wasn't averse to doing a property 'trade'.
Neshausen expects interest to be brisk, given the location, less than a block away from St Heliers beach and across the road from Vellenoweth Green.
Manson owns four of the Goldie St properties.
Wellington’s historic Boomrock Station and its luxury Pipinui Point retreat, meanwhile, could soon be in foreign hands.
That’s after the long-term owners, the Eastwick family, put the 270-hectare coastal property on the market about a month ago, aimed at capitalising on the recent policy change that allows foreign investors to buy or build a home worth at least $5m.
The asking price for the venerable estate wasn’t disclosed but the lodge, retreat, and farm could be expected to fetch well over that, based on the latest median price of more than $10,000/ha for grazing farms.
David Maxwell, of Realtor Future Isles, which is actively marketing the property to international prospects, said the property offered potential to expand its luxury accommodation offering, eco-tourism ventures, or to develop a “substantial” private residence.
The 270ha features a private racetrack.
Multiple attractions
The property had attracted about a quarter of a million visitors over the past 28 years, according to owner and manager, Jonny Eastwick.
A major drawcard to that has been the ‘experience’ aspect to the cliffside property, which includes a private racetrack, a claybird shooting range, and two kilometres of private coastline.
Eastwick – the grandson of the original owner of the station, Captain John Eastwick, who purchased the station in 1926 – is relocating to Hawke’s Bay with his family, where he is working at Cape Kidnappers as a guide for wealthy Americans.
Jonny and wife Mildy, who established the hospo business in 1997, had put that part of the station on the market last year but withdrew that as the “timing wasn’t right,” he said.
“I think we’re at a turning point now; interest from the international market has come back and we’ve had good, solid interest to date.”
That market strength has seen interest perk up across the board for higher-value residences, with Sotheby’s reporting its top five sales valued at $93.5m last month.
About a third of that was the $32m sale of a lakeside property at 15 Brunswick Street, Queenstown, sold to a foreign buyer who will build a multi-home, lake-view development.
To view high-end property listings, visit NBR Marketplace, our unique opportunity for agents to place premium residential listings in front of one of New Zealand’s most qualified audiences.