How do you sell what could be New Zealand’s most expensive house? Start by adding a $600,000 painting or two, throw in a tonne of marble and host an exclusive launch party.
The waterfront Auckland mansion is owned by Kiwi property developer Kurt Gibbons and his wife, Makere, who bought it nearly four years ago for $23.5 million, and are now selling it after a stunning renovation.
Wall Real Estate agent Graham Wall and his sons Ollie and Andrew have the listing, and they believe they will find a vendor who is willing to pay a record-breaking sum.
“We are confident this will be the highest value residential home ever sold in New Zealand, as it should be,” Graham told OneRoof.
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“This home is beyond anything seen in New Zealand before.”
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OneRoof got an exclusive tour of the five-bedroom Victorian-era home at 27 Marine Parade, in Herne Bay, before the listing went public.
The house, which the Gibbons have spent years upgrading to luxury standards, is on approach surprisingly modest for a multi-million-dollar mansion but once you’re through the front door you can see the money.
When the couple bought the property, it needed work. They commissioned architects Fearon Hay to overhaul the house from top to bottom and to bring a five-star hotel vibe to the interiors. Designing and getting consent were a year-long process, and construction didn’t get underway until early last year. When OneRoof visited, tradesmen were busy completing the final inspections and the artwork was being hung for a “spectacular” first open home this weekend.
Wall Real Estate agent Graham Wall, left, and his sons Ollie, and Andrew. They expect the house will sell for a record-breaking amount. Photo / Fiona Goodall
The master bedroom now occupies the best spot in the house and makes the most of the view. Photo / Fiona Goodall
Kurt declined to tell OneRoof the final cost of the build, which included earthworks on the cliff front to make a level surface for a tennis court, but admitted that it was “much, much more” than the $8m he had initially planned to spend.
“These [builds] cost a fortune. I’m in the industry and even I couldn’t stick to budget,” he said, adding, “It’s done up pretty good, eh?”
Kurt was not prepared to put a price on the property, but the following figures might help potential buyers guess as to where it sits in the market.
At 900sqm in size, the house is one of the biggest in upmarket Herne Bay. The waterfront section is hidden from view and covers 2688sqm (again, one of the largest in Herne Bay). The closest comparable property is the former Hotchin mansion on the corner of Paritai Drive and Huriaro Place. That home has a 2021 CV of $58m and sold in 2013 for $38.5m (another record-breaking Wall sale, eclipsed only by the reported $40m-plus sale of a Queenstown estate last year).
Property developer Kurt Gibbons: "I'm in the industry and even I couldn’t stick to budget." Photo / Fiona Goodall
The living spaces are stylish and modern. They now occupy the ground floor with the sleeping quarters on the top floor. Photo / Fiona Goodall
“This is an international-style home,” Kurt told OneRoof. “We wanted the master bedroom to have extraordinary views – and be massive. Downstairs we wanted the kitchen, dining room and lounge to be one big open area, and be open to the pool and tennis court.”
The staircase was relocated from the middle of the house to the front, making room for the new master bedroom, a steel and glass box that spans the two Victorian-looking wings of the house. Glass walls slide away to open the room to the water and garden views.
The former master bedroom was turned into a colossal ensuite, while downstairs the original conservatory, which had impeded views of the harbour, was replaced by a matching glass and steel box for the kitchen and living room.
The Gibbons, who love marble, handpicked nearly 100 slabs of special grey-blue travertine, which they used in all the bathrooms, the main kitchen and around the staircase. “The stone alone was $1.5m, and all the cabinets are handcrafted by SCE stone. It’s basically like sculpture,” Kurt said.
The bathroom is an ode to marble. "The stone alone was $1.5m," says Kurt. Photo / Fiona Goodall
The public-facing kitchen is one of four in the house. Photo / Fiona Goodall
The house also includes two media rooms – one for the kids, one for the grown-ups – a wine cellar and an outdoor teppanyaki kitchen and barbecue (another kitchen serves the tennis pavilion party room).
The “bigger than full-sized tennis court” was for Makere (she was a professional tennis player before her television career with sports show The Crowd Goes Wild). “There are so many zones for entertaining and having friends over,” Kurt said. “It’s completely private, we don’t get any wind and we get the sun all day.”
But as stunning as the house is, it’s one the Gibbons will never make their home.
The family relocated to Queenstown during the renovation and now plan to stay there. “The kids love it down there, my wife loves it, we don’t want to leave. We all came up here for the April school holidays and decided we didn’t want to move [back to Auckland].”
Kurt, whose company is building a 226-home development named Five Mile Villas on the edge of Frankton, had quietly put the Marine Parade property on the market at the beginning of this year but the April visit convinced him to go public with the listing.
“Even when Marine Parade was not officially on the market, we had a couple of people look at it, so we decided it was time to go fully on the market. A lot of people have the money,” he said.
The dining room was made to host New Zealand's best parties. Photo / Fiona Goodall
The property's standout tennis court. Photo / Supplied
Agent Ollie Wall said: “We’ve already had buyers from Singapore and New Zealand show real interest in the property. They are families who recognise true quality and have been blown away by the detail.”
For the invitation-only launch party this month, the Walls have collaborated with Gow Langsford Gallery to showcase the “best of the best” in art: sculptures by Paul Dibble worth up to $345,000 have been craned in, a major piece by Colin McCahon (the gallery estimates it is worth $300,000) and some smaller McCahon artwork, and works by Max Gimblett and Gordon Walters are on display.
The staging furniture is Italian, mostly from Studio Italia, and luxury cars will be parked on the forecourt. There will be no mistaking the worth of the house (and as the Walls know everyone, it’ll be a big party).
The Gibbons are no strangers to spectacular makeovers. They made headlines in mid-2021 when the Argyle Street house they bought just two years earlier for $13.8m sold for $22m after just two weeks on the market, again through the Walls.
- 27 Marine Parade, Herne Bay, Auckland, is for sale by way of price by negotiation
