- The Auckland penthouse with Batman vibes sold for $6.2m, below the $10m asking price.
- The local buyers wanted a base closer to their work in the central city.
- The apartment features hidden electronics, city views and a helicopter-installed car bed.
The Auckland penthouse apartment with strong Batman vibes sold for $6.2 million – well below the $10m the vendor had wanted when the property hit the market last year.
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The luxury apartment in the central city Metropolis building was bought by a local couple with a business in the city, said one of the Bayleys agents who did the deal.
They were looking for a base closer to their work than their current home in west Auckland.
Second time around, the more subdued marketing made less of the rotating bed in a converted Chevy and more of the sensational views. Photo / Supplied
The vendor had imported tonnes of onyx and marble to decorate the four-bedroom apartment, which has hidden doors and drop-down TVs. Photo / Supplied
Trent Quinton, who marketed the property with Julie Quinton and Dominique Donaghy, told OneRoof it was just the “right buyer” and the right price for the spectacular roof-top apartment, which was one of OneRoof’s most viewed properties last year.
The apartment first hit the market and headlines in August. It was listed with a different agency and came with a $10m price tag but at the end of October, it was withdrawn and then relisted with Bayleys with a different marketing strategy.
The previous listing championed the apartment’s playboy decor, putting a huge Batman insignia, dancing pole, and rotating car bed front and centre of the campaign.
The Bayleys listing toned down the party atmosphere, although the apartment still looked wild.
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Donaghy told OneRoof in November that the vendor had owned the apartment for 10 years and had dressed it for his own use, and not with future buyers in mind.
Listing photos for the property showed walls of psychedelic back-lit onyx and opulent Italian marble.
“The space is sensational, the views are sensational, the best in Auckland, but we knew whoever buys it, the decor wasn’t for everyone,” Quinton told OneRoof last week.
“The vendors might have spent $3m on it, but unfortunately people are going to change that. We thought it was a great end.”
The buyers were drawn to the sensational views and huge outdoor spaces. Photo / Supplied
The Batman logo featured prominently in the earlier advertising. Photo / Supplied
The agent told OneRoof he wasn’t sure what the buyers planned to do with the sprawling flat, but they were taken by the city views and the terrace.
Quinton added that most of the buyers who had inspected the penthouse were working with budgets of around $6m.
The vendor told OneRoof last year that he had bought the semi-completed penthouse from tech millionaire Charles Shrimpton in 2014 for $3m. He said he stripped the interior back to its concrete shell (that included removing $300,000 worth of new timber flooring) and spent three years fitting it out to his tastes, moving in with his partner in 2016.
He told OneRoof he was particularly proud of the hidden electronics and engineering. There are 14 TV screens in the apartment but you won’t find a single one in the listing photos or on display.
“Like the doors, they are all hidden. Everything is hidden,” he said.
“The beauty about living here is during the day you’ve got the best views of Auckland, but when it’s dark you’ve pretty much got a nightclub.”
The installation of the car bed – which cheekily has the word “divorce” on the licence plate and includes a fridge – was one for the movies. It had to be airlifted to the penthouse by helicopter, one the owner had to hire from Australia because no Kiwi chopper was strong enough to do the job. The surrounding streets and roads had to be closed off while the car was in the air.
“The pilot had his leg out of the door at one point and the whole helicopter was shaking – it was jumping up and down. We went over Albert Park and dropped it onto the deck,” he said, noting that it was the last helicopter drop of its kind in central Auckland.
The vendor told OneRoof why he was selling up. “It’s been 10 years. I believe 10 years is a good investment. Time for a new adventure. I like to do new things, new projects.”
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