- Bentley De Beyer and Dean Sharpe bought and transformed their neighbour's property for art and car storage.
- They renovated the home, built sheds, and expanded the property to 27ha with a waterfall.
- The Gibbston Highway property, featuring 650sqm of storage including space for at least 24 cars, is now for sale for $4.25 million.
When Queenstown couple needed Bentley De Beyer and Dean Sharpe extra storage space for their growing art collection, they didn't build a shed, they bought their neighbour's house instead.
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De Beyer told OneRoof that their neighbour had been thinking of selling, so the timing was perfect. "Serendipity struck," he said.
De Beyer and Sharpe got stuck into transforming the 1ha property below their architecturally designed home at the top of the Crown Range.
The couple stored their own classic car at the property and had planned to hire out parks to their friends. Photo / Supplied
The 27ha property includes a large waterfall, a stream to cool off in, and a walking track. Photo / Supplied
Sharpe, who is an interior designer, took the lead on the project. First off, they carved 26ha from their property and added it to their neighbour's plot to create a 27ha estate at 1289 Gibbston Highway, in Arrow Junction.
They renovated the three-bedroom home, which is used for visiting friends and family, and built three new sheds, which they dubbed "the car stables".
The "car stables" offer 650sqm of storage space and are home to the couple's art collection and 1960s Mercedes-Benz, and can easily fit 24 cars without stacking (friends told them they'd pay for somewhere that could safely house their own classic cars).
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The couple christened them earlier this year with a black-tie dinner for De Beyer’s 50th birthday, attended by 130 people. Each shed was turned into a different party zone. “It made the perfect venue. It was fantastic. We had fairy lights strung up between the barns.”
The couple are reluctantly selling 1289 Gibbston Highway to pursue a new renovation project in Karaka, on Auckland's southern fringe.
De Beyer said the property was hard to value, but the couple settled on a price tag of $4.25 million. “It’s quite lovely," he said of the estate. "It’s going to need someone who recognises what it represents."
The three-bedroom, two-bathroom home has been recently renovated. Photo / Supplied
The home is used as overflow accommodation for visiting friends and family. Photo / Supplied
He highlighted the bush, walking tracks and the 40m waterfall. The water flows from nearby Royalburn Station, home to celebrity chef Nadia Lim.
“It’s a very, very unique place in that respect – it’s got that natural wilderness components, it’s got 18 garages and additional storage - there’s really nothing like it.
“That’s the thing we are trying to impress upon people. Where do you get 67 acres that close to Arrowtown at that price point?”
Listing agent Cam Winter, managing director of Oliver Road, said he had sold a home with six to eight car garaging before, but nothing four times that size.
“The use cases range from entirely domestic through to entirely commercial. Domestic, recreation or commercial and the zoning allows for that quite wide range as well."
He added: “I’ve had several people kind of curious about it and with specific use cases planned for it. And others trying to get their heads around it. There’s something really special about that piece of land.”
- 1289 Gibbston Highway, in Arrowtown, Queenstown, has an asking price of $4.25m
