One of New Zealand's most high-profile mortgagee sales of 2022, a mansion in Auckland's St Marys Bay, sold for $11.5 million, OneRoof understands.
The seven-bedroom, three-storey property on St Marys Road sold in November 2022 after almost a year on the market.
The owner had hoped it would sell for $20m when she first listed it in December 2021.
But in October of last year, it was relisted as a mortgagee sale.
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The property, which overlooks the harbour, had been given an expensive makeover, and for three years was shrouded in white plastic sheeting, before being revealed as a spectacular three-storey mansion abutting a modern steel and glass box.
It was originally a run-down single-level villa when it was picked up in 2018 for $3m, along with two neighbouring properties – another derelict cottage and a vacant wedge of land.
The New Zealand Herald reported at the time that the buyer was Possum P Ltd, whose sole director was Virginia Clair Maxwell.
The modern kitchen sits inside the glass and steel box. Photo / Supplied
The property boasts some of the best views of Auckland harbour. Photo / Supplied
Maxwell spent three years renovating and reinventing the property, adding multiple bedrooms, reception rooms, an office, several utility rooms and staff quarters, as well as a large outdoor pool.
Maxwell sold the neighbouring properties in October 2021, for around $3m each.
The mansion had been initially listed with rich-lister real estate agent Graham Wall, of Wall Real Estate. He told OneRoof that the restoration and renovation project had been an all-encompassing one for the owner.
“This is 1000sqm of house and everything is brand-new. Apartments in St Marys Bay are asking $35,000 per sqm, and while I’m not saying this is asking for $35m, everything about the house is impeccable," he told OneRoof in December 2021.
The renovation kept some of the villa's original features. Photo / Supplied
One of the mansion's seven bedrooms. Photo / Supplied
Wall, who has sold New Zealand's most expensive home, said the over nine-metre-high glass and steel box, which houses the kitchen, family room and a mezzanine party room, was “the best room in Auckland city”, offering views of Westhaven Marina, the bridge and Rangitoto.
Remnants of the original villa remain. Ornate pressed tin ceilings, mouldings and corbels that line the four-metre tall hallway and ground floor reception rooms were removed, repaired or replicated and replaced. Only one original fireplace remains (the rest are modern gas fittings) and some decorative stained glass in the principal reception rooms, but the sash windows and over-height French doors were reproduced in modern double glazed hush glass, and floors replaced throughout with oak.
The original St Marys Road villa before its transformation. Photo / Supplied
Inside the original villa. Some of the original furniture was still in place prior to the 2018 sale. Photo / Supplied
“This house is as high-tech as can be,” Wall had said.
The $11.5m sale price was the highest for St Marys Bay in 2022, but was nearly $10m shy of the overall record for last year, $20.75m for a stunning architect-designed house on Marine Parade, in Herne Bay, Auckland.
The four-bedroom home was sold off-market by Wall and his sons Ollie and Andrew in June 2022.
The garaging for the house is extensive and high-tech. Photo / Supplied
The 15m outdoor pool is a standout feature. Photo / Supplied
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