The 46-unit finished Loxley Apartments, 32-34 Tennyson Ave, Takapuna went up for mortgagee sale on June 6, 2025. Photo / Colliers
The 46-unit finished Loxley Apartments, 32-34 Tennyson Ave, Takapuna went up for mortgagee sale on June 6, 2025. Photo / Colliers
The new, never-lived-in, 46-unit Loxley Apartments on Auckland’s North Shore are up for mortgagee sale after WFT Finance – a company linked to Tauranga’s wealthy Wright family – seized possession of the project last month.
On Friday, Colliers began advertising the five-level block at 32-34 Tennyson Ave, Takapuna, saying thevendor was “motivated” and offers must be in by early next month.
The apartments have never been lived in but the property is owned by Tennyson GCO, which went into liquidation in April.
The title shows WFT Finance as holding a mortgage over the property, along with a list of other financiers.
Wayne Wright, co-founder and trustee of prominent charity the Wright Family Foundation in Tauranga, is listed by the Companies Office as WFT Finance’s sole director.
The family is assessed as being worth $400 million by the National Business Review, with the majority of their wealth derived from the sale of childcare operator Best Start.
The Herald today put questions to the Wrights about the mortgagee sale, how much WFT Finance was owed and what went wrong.
Timothy Bell of WFT Group said: “The mortgagee sale by WFT Finance has nothing to do with Wright Family Foundation. Colliers are the agents handling the sale.”
Wayne Wright (left) and the now late Chloe Wright, pictured in 2020 at the launch of the Wright Family Foundation's Love Grows Brains initiative at Ōrākei Bay. Photo / Norrie Montgomery
It is not the first mass residential sale of new units to hit the mortgagee sale market recently.
In late 2023, 14 new terraced homes at 42-44 Byron Ave were advertised as a mortgagee sale.
A week previously, 33 units out of 64 in The Victor at Browns Bay were advertised as a distressed sale.
Loxley Apartments’ mortgagee sale follows the developer’s insolvency two months ago.
On April 10, Simon Dalton of Gerry Rea Partners was appointed Tennyson GCO liquidator after a shareholders’ resolution to call in the accountants.
Andrew Bendemski is Tennyson GCO’s director, Dalton’s report showed.
“The company operated a residential development business in the Auckland region. The receivers and liquidators of the shareholding companies identified related-party debts owing by the company and resolved to place the company into liquidation,” Dalton’s initial report said.
The company owns 32 and 34 Tennyson Ave, “which is being developed into an apartment complex that, we understand, is due to be completed in the coming weeks”, the April report said.
Plans showing how apartments at Loxley could look once completed.
“The first-ranking secured creditor and mortgagee of the company has engaged a third-party developer to complete the development,” the liquidator said.
“We have not yet verified their security and are waiting on copies of their documentation.”
An estimated statement of affairs as at April 10 showed assets reserved for secured creditors as being worth $77.3m.
No deficit or amounts owed to secured or unsecured creditors were listed in the statement.
Real estate agents Shoneet Chand and Josh Coburn indicated an appetite to move the apartment block.
One of the kitchen/dining areas at Loxley Apartments, in an image from plans when the building was being marketed.
“Colliers has been exclusively appointed by the mortgagee to market the high-quality Loxley Apartments development,” the advertisement said.
“With a motivated vendor, the property is being offered for sale by way of deadline private treaty, closing on Thursday July 10 at 4pm unless sold prior.
“It is a rare opportunity to acquire all 46 completed apartments, each finished to a superior and modern standard, over two standalone buildings. With no committed contracts, the property offers the incoming purchaser an opportunity to repurpose it as a build-to-rent investment, supported by strong nearby amenities and convenient public transport links.”
The Amaia Apartments on Esmonde Rd, Takapuna, not far from the Loxley Apartments. Photo / Anne Gibson
Esmonde Rd runs parallel with Tennyson Ave and there are bus stops which connect to the motorway at Takapuna that often take only 10 to 20 minutes to get into the CBD.
The property has 43 car parks, 52 storage lockers and panoramic views from the upper floors, the ads said.
It is on a 1872sq m fee simple title.
In 2017, the Heraldpublished an article on Loxley, detailing how, in a quiet Takapuna street filled with single- and double-storey homes on full sites, plans were proposed for two big five-level apartment blocks filling two sites side by side.
Loxley was a graphic image of how Auckland streetscapes were changing under the new Unitary plan in one big proposal on the North Shore, that article said.
A picture from the plans for Loxley Apartments. The building is now finished and up for mortgagee sale.
GCO’s Bendemski says on the company website he has a “construction project management, quantity surveying and architectural background”.
“His experience and knowledge provide strong leadership and direction to the group when sourcing new clients and opportunities,” his company said.
Bendemski has a successful project management background in residential development and building and more than 20 years of experience in the construction industry.
GCO listed other building projects it had provided carpentry and other services on as being in Point England, Kingsland, Hillside Rd and Cashel St and Riccarton in Christchurch.
Bendemski did not immediately respond to text or email messages about debts or what went wrong at the Loxley project.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald‘s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
