LAND Equity Group managing director Donald Stott is now selling off one of the penthouses and a small shop on the ground floor of the large block his family trust owns on the corner of Taranaki and Wakefield Sts.
The move comes just a month after 26 apartments in the block above the Green Parrot restaurant were put on the market.
The 258-square-metre, two-level penthouse at 182 Wakefield St, which has been leased for the past few years by Database Communications, will be auctioned on November 19.
It has a rateable value of $1.05 million and a current net annual income of $60,000 plus GST.
Colliers International agent Chris Gollins said the lease expired next year and while the tenant was keen to talk about staying on there were options for other uses. ‘‘Essentially it’s still configured as a large apartment, although the tenant has added a server room.’’ It has three balconies, one of them the whole length of the apartment.
A tiny ground-floor shop in the same building is also being auctioned on November 19. Mr Gollins said the 34sqm unit-titled property at 16 Taranaki St, next to the Green Parrot restaurant, was partially leased by Telecom as an equipment room and there was a 16sqm shop at the front that would be vacant from July next year.
The shop was occupied by a women’s clothing boutique. The net annual rental was $23,000 plus GST and it was a great chance for a small investor to get a property in the heart of the city, said Mr Gollins, who expected it to go for less than $280,000. Other apartments in the block were put up for sale in September with prices ranging from $285,000 to $590,000.
Mr Stott said at the time he was reluctant to sell, but ‘‘needs to focus on other opportunities’’.
The block is across the road from Mr Stott’s financially troubled, delayed and now radically scaled back Watermark development, on the site of the old Wakefield Markets and Rialto cinema complex.
Originally called Wakefield Chambers, the seven-storey building was reputedly the tallest in Wellington when completed in 1928.
It was strengthened and modified by Athfield Architects in 1988 as a mixture of ground-floor retail and commercial offices. In 2002, Inside Design converted the offices to apartments, which until now have been on long-term lease.
Print this article or Email to a friend