Historical Villa with a promising future
Wednesday 1 July 2009, 3:06PM
By Bayleys Realty Group
1956 views
An historical villa in Auckland’s city fringe, located in a high profile position and offering several commercial opportunities has come up for sale.
The villa – built between 1890 and 1899 - is marketed by sales consultants Colin McKenna and Peter Nikolov of Bayleys Auckland - is located on the corner of Park Road and Carlton Gore Road in Grafton, just 100 metres from Khyber Pass Road.
“The property is in a very high profile position, facing the Auckland Domain, opposite Outhwaite Park and close to Auckland Hospital, Newmarket and the southern motorway. The Auckland CBD is also immediately accessible at Grafton Bridge or via Grafton Road,” says Nikolov.
The villa itself consists of five bedrooms on the ground floor, together with a full kitchen and dining area towards the back of the property. There are six more rooms on level one, also with shower and toilet facilities. Recent additions of a manager’s office and a toilet, shower and laundry block are located in the courtyard at the back of the property.
“There is a large balcony on level one with a clear view of the Auckland Domain, and the rooms towards the northern and eastern side have great views of the Domain too. Those on the southern side look out to Outhwaite Park,” says Nikolov.
Nikolov says that this 761 square metre villa is currently used as an 11 bedroom backpackers which the new owners could continue to operate, but it’s zoned for residential use or offers further commercial uses, to which there are several opportunities.
“This grand villa has potential for many commercial uses that the Auckland City District plan allows. It can be used as a care centre for young children, an after school care facility, care for elderly people, or care for people with disabilities,” says Nikolov.
“The villa can also be used as an educational facility, such as a school, technical institute, teachers college, university, primary or secondary school or any educational administration activities.”
“Another excellent potential use could be health care services, such as a doctor’s surgery or dentist, as well as medical labs or clinics, or a veterinary clinic. The district plan also allows – within statutory constrains – the property to be used for a rest home,” says Nikolov.
Nikolov says that with the exception of care facilities which comply regarding the maximum number of people allowed - resource consent is required for the other uses.
“The number of people the plan allows within the dwelling for uses such as rest homes or care facilities is one person per 40 square metres, which is a total of 19 people.”
According to McKenna, the property is zoned ‘residential one’R1, the objective of which is to retain the authenticity of the property, making sure any developments or renovations maintain with the special character of the villa.
“Residential one is restrictive only in the case that any proposed changes or renovations don’t retain the character and the historic form of the total property,” says McKenna.
The property also has a ‘heritage B’ classification, which simply means the building cannot be removed, damaged or significantly changed unless the special quality, character and merit of the property s retained. Additions or replacements can be made to the property, but they have to reflect the ‘heritage’ character of both the property and the surrounding area.” says McKenna.
McKenna says that while the main building is protected by heritage classification, the surrounding buildings - such as the more recently built separate manager’s office and bathroom, toilet, and shower complex at the rear of the property – are not subject to the classification in terms of modification and removal.
The villa retains all the original Victorian features intact, such as the original wood panelling, stained glass windows, native timber flooring, and original high ceilings, all of which are consistent features throughout the building.
The property is surrounded mainly by older houses and mid-sized commercial developments, most of which are located on Carlton Gore Road.
The property is offered with vacant possession and is for sale by auction on Wednesday 8th July.