A South Auckland property with a decommissioned ex-military water reservoir has attracted some unwanted attention over the years, including from police officers who thought it was a grow-room for drugs.
The current owners bought the unusual property at 78 Red Hill Road, in Papakura, eight years ago with plans to eventually develop the 1922sqm site.
Kane Williams purchased the property with his brother from a private owner for $500,000 knowing almost half the property was taken up for a water reservoir once used by the Papakura Military Camp, but it wasn’t until they started clearing the overgrown section that they discovered exactly what they were dealing with.
Williams told OneRoof large bushes and unruly weeds had completely concealed the 815sqm concrete block tank from the road.
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“The whole property just had greenery grown on it for like 100 years, bushes and trees and all sorts of things grown all over it and you couldn’t really tell how thick the tank was. It’s probably like two- or three-foot thick concrete,” he said.
Not long after they had cleared the property, they got an unexpected visit from police.
“When we cleared the site we had the police turn up to clear the site because they thought it was a big grow-room or something because you could suddenly see this big warehouse from the road.
“I think they must have thought it was something dodgy.”
The reservoir was previously used by the Papakura Military Camp but has been empty for decades. Photo / Supplied
Police officers mistakenly thought it was being used for criminal activity. Photo / Supplied
Officers then looked inside the large tank and commented to Williams that it would have made a good gang pad since no one knew about it.
Several approaches have also been made over the years by a film crew who wanted to use it to film music videos and movies.
The brothers had various plans for the large site when they first bought it including putting in vehicle access and using it as a base for their construction company, as well as developing the site and putting at least houses on it.
Those plans never eventuated and instead they have been getting a steady income stream of $470 a week from renting out the small two-bedroom cottage on the property to the same tenant for the past five years.
The tank has been sitting empty largely because the main access to it is from an internal staircase from the cottage down to it. Two doors at either side of the tank can also be accessed and climbed into and there was also potential to create vehicle access and use it as warehousing.
However, the owners circumstances had changed including Williams relocating out of Auckland since they first purchased it and with no plans to develop it in the short-term they had decided to sell.
Although Williams didn’t know a huge amount about the history of the property, which is located about 5km from the military camp on Walters Road, it was his understanding that the previous owner added the house to the site after purchasing it decades earlier.
Barfoot & Thompson listing agent Sunny Anand said it was the first time he had ever come across a property with a water reservoir on it.
“It’s an interesting property. Large land, good location, but with that reservoir – you don’t find many properties like that.”
Anand said the property, which has a CV of $940,000, could suit land-bankers, someone looking for storage or a developer prepared to remove the concrete structure.
- 78 Red Hill Road, in Red Hill, Auckland, is for sale by way of negotiation
