New life for $3m quake-hit tower
One of New Zealand’s largest ‘‘as is, where is’’ earthquake-damaged building sales has been clinched by developer Patrick Fontein, who says he will fix it.
Fontein is well known in Auckland circles for his involvement in the early stages of Kensington Park, which was adversely affected by the 2008 global financial crash.
But his skills have proved successful in post-quake Christchurch where he has completed several redevelopments, and his $3.15 million unconditional purchase at auction of 66 Oxford Tce will be the latest.
Fontein said a major selling point when the units were repaired would be views over the plains to the mountains, he said.
The previous owners of the apartments chose to take an insurance settlement and move on. In the course of their claim they put forward an engineer’s report that cast doubt on whether the building could be fixed.
However, after the Canterbury quakes several foundation specialists have successfully taken on big jobs similar to 66 Oxford Tce.
Fontein and partner Paul Naylor recently redeveloped a heritage building overlooking Victoria Square at 779 Colombo St. They have just sold it to the owner of the Mumbaiwala restaurant.
They are also redeveloping the quake-damaged Inland Revenue building in Cashel St, in conjunction with O¯ ta¯ karo, the Crown development agency.
Fontein has yet to reveal pricing in a city where the market for higher-priced units is far smaller than in other centres.
Real estate agency Savills said that although units in some highpriced luxury apartment and townhouse developments were struggling to sell, there was more activity in lower-priced ones.
Jeremy Kelleher of Savills said his team had spoken to nearly 2000 people who were looking for two- or three-bedroom apartments close to the city centre, with a car park, priced from $450,000 to $650,000.
‘‘There is significant buyer demand for apartments and townhouses in that price bracket, but there are very few developers addressing this demand, either with new builds or renovations of existing buildings,’’ he said.
Units in four complexes in the $450,000 to $650,000 price range that Savills has brought to the market in the past two years have sold out, Kelleher said.
Jeremy Kelleher, Savills Christchurch