Buyers looking to build the dream mansion from scratch have the chance to snap up a 2819sqm section in the heart of Auckland’s sought-after double grammar zone.
A former convent run by the Sisters of St Joseph of Cluny is for sale at 74 Victoria Avenue for the first time in 70 years.
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The property, most recently home to a kindergarten, is one of the few large sections left on Victoria Avenue and, unlike other big pieces of land coming up for sale in Auckland in recent months, is zoned single house, which means it can’t be turned into a high-density development.
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Barfoot and Thompson agent Leila McDonald, who is marketing the property with son David, said the property’s location made it one to watch.
“It will accommodate a prestigious home with enough space for a pool and tennis court.”
She added: “It has potential and opportunity stamped all over it.”
The former novitiate has been owned by the Sisters of St Joseph of Cluny since 1948. Photo / Supplied
The property, which for sale by way of tender, has a 2017 CV of $8.8 million – only $600,000 of which is for the buildings.
Land is key in Remuera and even those properties that do need a lot of work are selling for top prices, with even the most modest of do-up homes starting at $2 million.
And last year, the site of the former Caughey-Preston rest home in nearby Upland Road, sold to a developer by Colliers agents for a large undisclosed amount. The CV for the 10,000sqm property was $100 million - $72 million of which was for the land – and it was zoned mixed housing suburban.
The MacDonalds, who have another large Remuera development opportunity for sale at 70 Middleton Road, 4210sqm near the roundabout at Bassett Road, are enjoying a hot run of sales.
A large estate at 144 Orakei Road sold for $11million. Photo / Supplied
The pair’s recent sale of $11 million for nearby 144 Orakei Road shows the heated competition at the upper end of the market.
Three offers in the space of a week, all at least $3.6 million above its 2017 CV, show the demand for large estates. The 1791m property had a grand five-bedroom Arts and Crafts house that had been extensively renovated and extended, a full-sized floodlit tennis court, pool and spa and multiple living areas.
The site at 74 Victoria Avenue has been owned by the Cluny order since 1948, first as a novitiate. then when the adjoining property was added in 1952 it had a small kindergarten added. A junior school opened in the 1960s and operated for 20 years. After it closed, the kindergarten moved into the school building.
The biggest development site in Auckland, the former Caughey Preston site at Upland Road, sold just after the first lockdown last year. Photo / Supplied
The present Bishop of Auckland, Bishop Patrick Dunn, was one of the first kindergarten pupils, as his mother June Dunn was the force behind the opening.
There are currently two buildings on the land – the large, classic home which accommodates the sisters, and a kindergarten building. They sit amidst trees, lawns and gardens.
The house has five bedrooms and two bathrooms, a light, functional kitchen and living space, with some of the French doors, leadlight windows and ornate fireplace surrounds remaining.
“The kindy closed at the end of last year and the house itself is not very suitable for older sisters,” says Sister Francis Kelly, who has lived here for many years. “It is a lovely old house and it is sad to see it sold, but I can see the necessity from a practical point of view.”
She says some of the sisters are going to Tauranga, the headquarters of the province, to a place with special facilities, and two are going to Mangere.
