A character villa that was at the centre of a legal dispute has been put on the market for sale.
The two-storey house on the corner of Grafton and Park roads, next to Auckland Hospital, is being sold with vacant possession.
The landmark property, which has a 2021 CV of $4.75 million, hit the market just hours after its owner won a high court case that has ended a 10-year-long legal battle.
The property, which dates back to 1885, is owned by Stylo Medical Services, a company whose majority shareholder is Dr Shen Tat Ooi.
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It was in derelict state when Stylo Medical Services bought it at auction in 2008 for $975,000 from Housing New Zealand.
Ooi had initially planned to turn the house into a medical centre and then a restaurant but had been unable to bring his vision to reality, according to reports at the time.
In 2011, Stylo Medical Services leased the property to Hum Hospitality, a cafe and community hub run by Rosy Armitage. Armitage planned to raise $500,000 to renovate the building, which she said at the time would be beacon for wellness and social change.
Armitage, who also lived at the property, signed a 20-year lease but the relationship between her and her landlord soon disintegrated.
According to reports, Stylo Medical Services had been battling to evict Armitage from the building since 2012, accusing her of failing to pay rent.
Rosy Armitage in the Grafton villa in 2013. Photo / Sarah Ivey
According to news reports, Armitage claimed that her landlord had harassed her, alleging that Stylo Medical Services had put up fencing without her consent, cut down her child's treehouse and cut off her power.
She was evicted in February this year after she was threatened with arrest. She had appealed a High Court decision ordering her eviction and her payment of unpaid rent, but yesterday she lost the appeal and was ordered to pay $106,000 in rent to Stylo Medical Services.
The Victorian villa, which sits on 912sqm corner site, goes to auction on July 20 and is being marketed by Bayleys agents Phil Haydock and Millie Lang as a development opportunity.
Haydock would not comment on the property's owner or former tenant, except to say that the property was for sale with vacant possession.
The agents expect the property will attract a wide range of both commercial and residential buyers, as the local business centre zoning permits a building up to18-metres high.
“Subject to appropriate consents, the site could be subdivided – allowing for the creation of a new commercial or mixed-use building on the undeveloped portion of the site, while retaining the heritage dwelling at the front,” said Liang.
Haydock suggests the villa could be converted into a high-end boutique hotel or refurbished for professional offices, similar to villas and bungalows around the edges of Ponsonby, Freemans Bay and Herne Bay.
He said the city-edge suburb is a “massively good location".
A development or investment opportunity that Bayleys is selling in Auckland's Herne Bay. Photo / Supplied
“It has been overlooked relative to the fancier suburbs like Ponsonby, but here you’re not paying $8000 a square metre, it’s more like $5000 if there are height overlays," he said.
“I wouldn’t say Grafton is gentrifying, but it’s certainly modernising, there’s new development happening along Park Road."
The property is in-zone for both Auckland Grammar and Auckland Girls Grammar schools and has views towards the Waitemata Harbour and Grafton Bridge.
Before it fell into dereliction, the villa was home to prominent Auckland colonialists, including the mayor of Parnell and the engineer who supervised the building of the adjoining Grafton Bridge between 1908 and 1910.
Haydock is marketing another historic property in Herne Bay on behalf of an overseas-based investor. The block of four 1930s flats on a valuable 700sqm of land on Jervois Road, across the street from the new Countdown supermarket, is being sold by way of tender, closing July 12.
Haydock said that the property, which is zoned for town houses and apartments, would appeal to investors. “It’s got a good holding income, and you could landbank for later development. Maybe not in six months, but in three years. You could get apartments on there,” he said.
A couple of blocks along Jervois Road, a luxury block of eight architect-designed apartments have recently been completed on a site of just over 500sqm, according to OneRoof records, with asking prices of between $3.65m and $3.95m.
