The entrepreneurs who put Waiheke Island on the world tourism map have sold their award-winning luxury lodge for $8.45 million, OneRoof can reveal.
Andrew Glenn and Jonathan Rutherfurd Best, who founded the popular Oyster Inn restaurant on the island, struck an off market deal for the property back in March but the sale has only just settled.
The Asian influenced three-bedroom retreat on Sea View Road, in Onetangi, Waiheke, is popularly known as the Lantern House, and was bought by a young Kiwi artist, sources have told OneRoof.
The sources told OneRoof that the buyer and companies associated with her had also bought a number of other properties on the island, including Te Whau Lodge in March last year for $6.47m and Waiheke Villas in October 2020 for $4.7m.
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The deal for the Lantern House was brokered by Bayleys agent Mana Tahapehi.
OneRoof contacted the buyer for comment but had yet to hear back from her.
The $8.45m sale price is almost double the property’s 2021 CV but falls short of the $11.75m paid in March for a 1990s house on a 1.97ha site on Dolphin Lane, about five minutes’ drive from the famous Mud Brick vineyards.
Lantern House had been listed with Ollie and Graham Wall, of Wall Real Estate. Graham told OneRoof late last year that the property had attracted significant interest from Singapore, London and New York.
“We trace the international sexiness of Waiheke Island to Andrew and Jonathan – they’re so connected,” he said in November.
“Lantern House is like something out of Architectural Digest. It’s truly international in style. Many people have drawn parallels with the Aman resorts – the attention to the tiniest detail is exquisite.”
Jonathan Rutherfurd Best, left, and Andrew Glenn put Waiheke on the world travel map when they opened Oyster Inn in 2012. Photo / Babiche Martens
Glenn and Rutherfurd Best picked up the sloping Sea View Road site in 2011 for $450,000 and set about building an impressive lodge on it with architects Nicola and Lance Herbst.
Glenn and Rutherfurd Best moved to the island in the mid-2000s after quitting high-profile jobs in London – Rutherfurd Best running some of Europe’s coolest events and parties, Glenn heading global public relations and marketing for Louis Vuitton.
They then founded the Oyster Inn in 2012, which they sold in 2017 and is credited with raising the international profile of Waiheke Island.
The pair revealed to OneRoof last year why they were moving on from Waiheke, explaining that they had a “huge life” outside of New Zealand, including consulting on restaurant start-ups in Bali and Mexico and renovating a house in the French Alps.
The Sea View Road house, designed by Herbst Architects, has won architecture and design awards. Photo / Supplied
Glenn told OneRoof in November: “We love doing projects. Oyster Inn was an amazing journey, but we’ve got itchy feet for a new project. There’ll be opportunity for cautious travel next year and Covid made us realise we have friends around the world we want to catch up.”
Lantern House was intended as a sanctuary for the couple but they ended up renting it out as a holiday destination for $1395 a night.
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