- Sir John Key’s son Max is selling a renovated villa in Point Chevalier, Auckland.

- He bought the property in 2020, and asked his mum Lady Key to help with the interior design.

- The villa features an upmarket finish, with a new ground floor and open-plan design upstairs.

Sir John Key’s property developer son is selling the Auckland villa he renovated with the help of his mum.

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Locals have long been curious to see the results of Max and Bronagh’s, Lady Key, efforts at 43 St Michaels Avenue, in Point Chevalier, with Bayleys listing agent Jackson Tariau telling OneRoof: “There was quite a bit of media around it at the beginning; a lot of people driving up and down St Michaels Avenue asking what’s going on.

“There’s always been a bit of talk about it around the suburb, and now we’re finally able to reveal it.”

Max Key is selling his four-bedroom villa on 43 St Michaels Avenue, in Auckland's Point Chevalier. Photo / Supplied

The house was raised, a ground floor was added and the home was completely rebuilt to a high standard. Photo / Supplied

Max Key is selling his four-bedroom villa on 43 St Michaels Avenue, in Auckland's Point Chevalier. Photo / Supplied

The property has an upmarket main kitchen area, and an outdoor kitchen with barbecue. Photo / Supplied

Max Key is selling his four-bedroom villa on 43 St Michaels Avenue, in Auckland's Point Chevalier. Photo / Supplied

Max and his father, former Prime Minister Sir John Key. Photo / Norrie Montgomery

Max bought the property in late 2020 as a development project, paying just over $3 million at auction for a run-down cottage on an 875sqm site.

The former Prime Minister’s son removed the house and moved three villas from South Auckland onto the site.

The 2021 Covid lockdowns derailed his original plans, however, and he was forced to scale back the development to just two villas, one of which he is putting on the market for sale.

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“We had no builders, a 200% increase in material costs, so we just put everything on pause. At that point, we had eight or nine other developments on the go,” he said, referring to his partnership with developers Michael and John Chow, which has built hundreds of new homes around Auckland.

Max’s Point Chevalier project was conducted under the auspices of his company Key Co (formerly known as MTK Capital). Although he usually collaborates with interior designer Suzanne Allen (the pair have a business, Key Interiors, together), he asked his mum for help on this one.

Max Key is selling his four-bedroom villa on 43 St Michaels Avenue, in Auckland's Point Chevalier. Photo / Supplied

Lady Key, with husband Sir John in 2016. She worked with son Max on the villa. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Max Key is selling his four-bedroom villa on 43 St Michaels Avenue, in Auckland's Point Chevalier. Photo / Supplied

The Point Chevalier villas during the build. Photo / Jason Oxenham

“My mum and I designed the whole thing, we both really love doing interiors,” he told OneRoof.

The pair renovated the two villas with Point Chevalier buyers in mind, providing an upmarket finish and roomy quality to the homes.

Their design meant lifting the existing structures and creating a new ground floor to accommodate a garage, bedroom, sitting room, and bathroom.

“Upstairs, we made it as open-plan as we could. We’ve got two bedrooms upstairs, so if you had older kids, you could put them downstairs. We were prepping for any sort of Point Chev buyers,” Max said.

“For any house, our company motto is building houses we’d want to own.”

Max Key is selling his four-bedroom villa on 43 St Michaels Avenue, in Auckland's Point Chevalier. Photo / Supplied

A fire-damaged house in Auckland’s Parnell is Key’s next big project. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Max didn’t scrimp on storage either. “The walk-in wardrobe is pretty cool. I love the kitchen. And sitting down by the barbecue in the courtyard, it feels so private.”

Once his Point Chev villa sells, Max is heading across Auckland to Parnell.

He is planning to bring his magic to a fire-damaged house he bought at the end of 2023 for just over $1.3m. “It's the do-up of all do-ups,” he said.

“It’s quite a funny story. I called Dad and said, ‘I’m at the auction’. He said, ‘Under no circumstances are you buying it’. But no one else turned up, so I ended up getting it,” he said.

“I love doing the renovations. That’s what made me want to do the interiors business because then I get to do heaps of them.”

Agent Tariau expects interest in 43 Saint Michaels Avenue will be high, but said the property was hard to price. “This is a bit of an anomaly – a four-bedroom house renovated to this standard on a half site. We’ve never seen such a well-finished character build like this in the suburb,” he told OneRoof.

A similar high-end place had some 50 people viewing it, he said.

- 43 St Michaels Avenue, Point Chevalier, is for sale by negotiation