New Zealand’s rich-lister real estate agency unveiled Auckland’s newest luxury penthouse to an invitation-only crowd of the city’s wealthy and famous this week.
The 335sqm apartment takes up the entire 41st floor of 51 Albert and has just completed its fit-out.
Wall Real Estate agents Graham, Ollie and Andrew Wall have put an asking price of $16 million on it – one of the highest in the prestige apartment market right now.
The Walls’ staging included a swag of expensive artworks, curated by Gow Langsford Gallery. They are “not the average run-of-the-mill decorative pieces”, Andrew told OneRoof at the showing.
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“We’ve curated an exciting and slightly unusual collection of artworks. They’re courageous and some are slightly mad,” he said, name-checking pieces by Anish Kapoor, Bernar Venet, Ronnie van Hout and Laurence Aberhart.
“It’s a huge apartment and perfect for a real collector.”
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Graham added: “This penthouse is like nothing we’ve seen before. We expect buyers will be able to settle within a couple of weeks if they choose.”
When OneRoof visited the apartment this week, workmen were busy adding the final touches to the lobby and the interior.
The $250m tower is the work of Australasian developers Ninety-Four Feet and architects Scott Carver. It will feature 250 residences (225 of which are hotel rooms) and high-end restaurants and bars.
The penthouse features hand-cast bronze light fixtures to the oak-lined mail room and brass-trimmed lift designers Ewert Leaf and Scott Carver Architects have detailed the sort of luxury buyers expect in this upper-end market.
Ninety-Four Feet’s development manager Charmaine Balchin told OneRoof they had sold most of the tower’s private residences. The buyers were mostly out-of-towners, from around New Zealand and Australia, who were looking for an Auckland bolthole.
The agents marketing the penthouse collaborated with Gow Langsford to showcase some striking art. Shown here is David McCracken stainless steel work, Blue Danube. Photo / Jono Parker
Below the penthouse are more apartments, a 225-room hotel, restaurants and bars. Photo / Jono Parker
51 Albert won’t be Auckland’s tallest residential building. At 150m, it is shorter than the 178m-high Pacifica on neighbouring Commerce Street and the 187m Seascape development on Customs Street (work on that tower has paused, the New Zealand Herald reported earlier this month).
The views from the penthouse, however, are no less stunning: Auckland’s waterfront, Wynyard Quarter, the Marina and Harbour Bridge, even Ponsonby, seem close enough to touch. Even the apartment pantry, tucked behind the main entertaining kitchen, has an eye-level view of the Sky Tower.
The kitchen sports a double-wide Gaggenau wine fridge alongside a regular fridge, two ovens, an induction hob and coffee station and a near-five-metre-long island of dark clarity limestone. Room service, valet parking, laundry, and housekeeping are all part of the deal.
The west-facing living room has views of the marina all the way to Waitakere Ranges. The artwork on the wall is by Bernar Venet, Effondrement: Arcs. Photo / Jono Parker
The penthouse has curtain walls of glass, tinted for privacy, and four-metre high ceilings that make the space seem bigger. The corner master bedroom gets sunrises and close-up views of the harbour activity and includes a walk-in wardrobe with smoke glass doors, lit from inside to better show the new owner’s collections of shoes and bags.
The bathroom has city views from a sculptural soaking tub while the two other bedrooms have views to the east and south of the city.
The $16m price tag is one of the highest in the market right now. The 355sqm Pacifica penthouse is also on offer for $16m, while the Seascape’s penthouse collection is priced from $11.2m.
However, as steep as these prices are, they are somewhat down on asking prices at the height of the market. In 2021, a much larger super-penthouse at the Pacifica was looking for just over $42m before it was split into three separate apartments.
The price of 51 Albert’s penthouse is also a bit lower than the $18m-$20m Ninety-Four Feet had indicated as a possibility in June.
The prices also pale in comparison to the $40m-plus sought by the Walls for a mansion in Auckland's Herne Bay and the A$200m price guide for a Sydney Harbour mansion listed earlier this year.
- 41/51 Albert Street, in Auckland Central, is for sale for $16m
