Rich-lister developer Kurt Gibbons can be revealed as the buyer of a 4201sqm parcel of land in Auckland's prized double grammar zone.
Gibbons and his development company paid $23.5 million for the block on Auckland's medical mile, in Remuera, after it was put on the market by breast surgeon-turned-developer John Harman at the end of 2020.
Harman had had planned to build a $200m luxury apartment block on the site – which is next door to his St Marks development – but abandoned the project as a result of Covid.
He sold the property in October with his original plans but said Gibbons planned to start from scratch.
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Gibbons told OneRoof he was unable to reveal his new designs for the site until they were signed off but said that he was looking to complete the project by the end of 2023.
“We do high quality product in high quality locations. The demand is out there and we have a waiting list of people,” he said.
Gibbons recently won a high court fight to press ahead with a luxury town-house project in Remuera’s Ventnor Road.
He’s also completing a new Countdown Metro on Herne Bay’s Jervois Road on the site of the old Gables Tavern, which is slated to open late May. The 1600sqm supermarket project, his first, is with Auckland property investor Ben Cook.
Gibbons is also building an upscale medical centre designed by top architects Fearon Hay on the site of the old Tudor Mall.
Housing projects rolling towards the finish line include 19 townhouses on the site of a villa on Orakei Road where residents move in this week, and a seven-townhouse development on Hanini Street, in St Heliers, while an 18-townhouse project in Remuera’s St Vincents Avenue is just getting out of the ground and 31 units in Milford are nearly sold out.
Gibbons and his wife Makere hit the headlines last year when they bought a waterfront mansion on Marine Parade for $23.5m. Gibbons told OneRoof the $7m renovation on the Marine Parade house will start in May.
Harman is keeping his finger in the development pie with friend Tim Wilkins, of Greenstone Land Developments in Hawke’s Bay. They launched the second stage of 23 sections at Te Awanga Terraces, near Cape Kidnapppers.
The project, built 4m to 6m above the high tide mark to future-proof for climate change, includes its own sewage system, shared tennis, basketball and cricket courts and covenants for solar energy and rainwater collection.
“I’m really pushing the envelope, as I was in the apartment business,” Harman said.
“I’m not just a property developer; I want to create a great community. Locals in town are selling their houses to Aucklanders and moving out here to build,” he said.
Harman and Wilkins are about to launch another upscale development of 20 sites on the hills above Havelock North called Karanga Gardens.
