Breast surgeon-turned-developer John Harman has sold off a block of prime Auckland real estate for $23.5 million.
Harman had intended to turn the 4201sqm parcel of land in the city's prized double grammar zone into 69 high-end apartments but abandoned his plans as a result of last year's Covid outbreak.
He sold the property with his original plans for the $200m luxury apartment block, but he told OneRoof today that the buyer - Kiwi developers - planned to start from scratch.
Harman said: "It's Kiwi developers all lining up, and they're just going to start from scratch."
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At the start of last year Harman was getting ready to market his St Marks II development, next to his award-winning St Marks apartment block on Auckland's medical mile.
Covid-19 and the subsequent lockdowns in Auckland had forced Harman to reassess his life and future. "I’ve only got so many good summers, and this would take another four years of my life,” he told OneRoof.at the end of last year, when he put the property on the market.
Harman had said the pandemic had made him realise the importance of family, and he retired and re-located to Queenstown with his wife, real estate agent Karen Spires, and his teenage son Jack.
“Jack is into golfing and skiing and mountain-biking, he’s back from [ski racing school] in the States. Covid made us look a bit inward and think about the family. I thought ‘oh, bugger it, let’s just enjoy life'. I don’t need the money," he said.
The design for the 69-apartment Mark II included courtyards and a wellness centre. Photo / Supplied
“Covid’s done that, it’s shown us what’s important.”
In Mark II, Harman and Spires had dreamed of creating a community of city-livers who would use the roof-top garden and wellness centre with a heated pool, sauna, spa, clubroom, wine room, private dining and outdoor barbecue area, meeting in the yoga and exercise room and communal foyer with a barista.
The project was launched in late-February 2020, with six apartments sold, but the Covid lockdown put everything on pause.
A six-month delay on the renovation on the family's Queenstown apartment had also reinforced to Harman how complex Mark II would be.
Supply-chain problems had meant problems for their builders. “Imagine that multiplied by 70 or 80 apartments. We still don’t know what it will look like, how hard will it be to get building supplies,” he said.
Harman, who made his name as a surgeon before a hand injury forced him to retire, hasn't completely given up on property development.
He told OneRoof that he was preparing to bring a new development in Hawke's Bay to market very soon.
He is pairing up with an experienced local developer, Tim Wilkins of Greenstone Developments, to market 45 sections in a new subdivision on the Cape Coast at Te Awanga
Civil work has already begun on the site, called Te Awanga Terraces, and titles are expected to be available between December 2021 and February 2022.
The Hastings District Council plans to buy a 1200 sqm section of land near the entry to Te Awanga Terraces to create a community reserve and attractive entry to the new neighbourhood.
The original St Marks development was a success. Photo / Supplied
Harman accidentally became a developer when he took up the suggestion of his planners to add apartments to the state-of-the-art medical centre he was building for St Mark’s Breast Centre
“I’m a big fan of apartments – I live in one myself – so I thought, Why not? It could be fun. I expected I would hand everything over to a developer but they were all busy doing their own thing, so I decided I had better get on with it and do it myself."
He said that he loved that the café at St Marks had become quite a lively community. “The community and family side of things matter to me. I’m half Fijian – family life and shared community spirit is very important to Fijians.”
