An abandoned castle featured on this season's Grand Designs NZ may still get its fairy-tale ending after a year of work and a price tag of over $1 million for renovations.
It joins a small swag of Grand Designs properties currently on the market.
Four apartments from a luxury development in Ponsonby's Vinegar Lane that featured in the 2017 season are on the market, starting at just over $2m.
The apartments join two other Grand Designs homes that are on the market for sale: a penthouse suite in the former tearooms of Auckland’s Farmers department store and a beach house overlooking the city’s rugged west coast on Piha Road, and is now asking for over $4.599m.
Start your property search
In the Canterbury castle, with the finishing touches almost complete and after splitting up with his partner, owner Phil Metaxas has decided the property is too large for him and has listed the 4.3-hectare property for sale with Bayleys Christchurch for $2.875m-plus.
Metaxas estimates that the total renovation has cost him more than double the $500,000 he had initially budgeted for, after buying it for $692,000 in July last year.
“I haven’t done a tally up but I know it’s going [to] be well in excess of $1 million and it just keeps going. It’s just about complete now and I’ve reached that point where I can, hand on heart, say I’ve finished spending money on it.”
Metaxas, with the help of his former partner Sharon and numerous tradies, spent the past year lovingly transforming the sprawling property at 30 Mcleods Road in Sefton, Waimakariri, from the deserted shell into a glamorous castle named Bella Castello.
The self-described jack of all trades purchased the castle from builder Merv Higgs, who had the dream of building his forever property and showcasing his impressive concreting skills in the early 2000s. The floor plans run over five levels from the wine cellar in the basement to the top tower.
Higgs' work came to a halt after the Christchurch earthquakes in 2011 due to soaring building costs.
The property stood as an empty shell for a number of years until it was eventually put on the market and Metaxas, who had just returned from a three-year stint in Brisbane, saw its potential and bought it.
“It goes without saying that it’s unique. It’s an icon in the area. Everybody seems to know it ... but it’s a testament to Merv Higgs, the original builder. It’s two men that have done that project – both he and I. He started it and I finished it.”
The home featured on Grand Designs last month, but unlike most Grand Designs projects Metaxas’ home was an ambitious renovation rather than a new build.
The property stood as an empty shell for a number of years until it was eventually put on the market and the current owner bought it in July last year for $692,000. Photo / Supplied
Metaxas has met with Higgs, and said they are both happy with the outcome and that he took it over.
“I guess a lot of people don’t have that vision and I’ve always had that vision and I can sort of see what it’s going to look like in the end and it looks every bit as good as I had envisioned, perhaps even better to be honest.
“It’s quite unusual to have such a building out in the country in Sefton, but in saying that it’s only five minutes from Rangiora which is just growing as a town.”
The extensive renovation included finishing the wiring and plumbing, completing the roof and exterior plastering, replacing the missing doors as well as all the interior work which he and his then partner Sharon chose.
Bella Castello has five bedrooms, five bathrooms, multiple living areas, an internal courtyard, generous kitchen and formal dining room. There is also a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment.
There are multiple living areas in the sprawling 1170sqm mansion with unique windows that look out to the property's 4.3 hectares of land. Photo / Supplied
The property owner says Bella Castello could be a residential home for a large extended family, a business opportunity or both. Photo / Supplied
He had also hoped to have it finished before now.
“Although people think it happened pretty fast, it took a bit longer again because of Covid and building materials and Gib, it took longer than I thought it was going to take.”
But even with a hefty price tag, Metaxas said it still represents good value for money.
“If you were to rebuild that house today because it’s close to 1200sqm. Tom Webster from Grand Designs he’s done a lot of this high-end architectural design stuff and he said the way the property is constructed you are looking at $12,000 a sqm and there is 1200sqm so he said if you were to build that today you are looking at close to $12m.
“I think that it is a pretty good price, but it is just finding that buyer for it. But it does have the opportunity to have an income stream.
“It’s a pretty incredible property, it’s just so expansive and it sits so beautifully on the hillside and it just has so many different levels and features. It’s quite captivating. Everyone who sees it agrees, they just turn up and say what is this amazing building.”
The main residence has five bedrooms and five bathrooms, and there is also a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment. Photo / Supplied
Metaxas says it would be the perfect setting for a boutique hotel, day and beauty spa or a large extended family.
“It’s got so many options ... it can be a residential home or it could be a business as well or it could be both. It could even be an upmarket holiday home or an Airbnb – although it’s too good to be an Airbnb, it needs to be that one step up.”
Although he’s done a number of renovations in both New Zealand and Australia, once he moves on from the castle Metaxas says he’s unsure whether his future will include another renovation, adding that he needs a holiday first.
“This has probably been the hardest one that I’ve done. It’s probably been one of the hardest things that I’ve done. Just purely because the building again has so many difference facets and assets to it.
“It’s taken all my skill and experience – I'm a plumber, drain layer, gas fitter, I’m a house inspector, I’m a builder. I do most jobs onsite, it’s just taken all of that skill to get it to the completed stage.”
Metaxas has been living onsite in the two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment while carrying out the renovation, but as a Christmas treat plans to move into the master bedroom to enjoy the impressive rural views while he can.
