Valuable site passed in

Press, 6 August 1987, Page 5

Valuable site passed in

A 1.2 hectare Deans Avenue property was passed in at auction yesterday after failing to attract a reserve price set by the present owners believed, which is to be more than $1 million. The sale of the property is under negotiation between three potential purchasers. It Is expected to sell for more than $1.3 million.

The owners attended the auction but listened from another room so they could not be identified. It is believed that they are a married couple who have owned the large residential property for a number of years.

The auctioneer, Mr Robert McCormack, of Harcourts, refused to name the owners or potential purchasers. The auction yesterday morning attracted about 15 buyers.

The $1.3 million price tag was placed on the property on the basis of recent sales of land along Deans Avenue. The most notable of those was the Heatherlea homestead site, a 0.5 hectare block, which sold just over a month ago for $BOO,OOO. Bidding began at $900,000 for the property and increased in the $25,000 lots to $1 million. The hammer dropped twice at $1 million before $lO,OOO bids were accepted. This increased the bid to just $1,010,000. Immediately after the auction one bidder made an offer to the owners on

private treaty and, according to Mr McCormack, two other buyers made offers later in the day.

The land is zoned multiuse residential and is in eight titles. Five of the properties included in the parcel are residential, another is a furniture factory and another a nursery. There is one vacant section.

Mr McCormack told the bidders before the auction began that the property was one of the “few remaining Riccarton properties near Hagley Park suitable for redevelopment.”