The sale price has remained confidential until now. Photo / File
The sale price has remained confidential until now. Photo / File
The luxury Auckland house owned by former Tauranga mayor Tenby Powell and wife Sharon Hunter - and once rented by Hollywood action star Jason Statham - has sold for $17.68 million.
The property in Westmere's Rawene Avenue is one of New Zealand's most striking houses - a concrete, cedar and steel structure perched on the edge of the water - and was home to Statham while he filmed the blockbuster killer shark pic The Meg in Auckland in 2016.
The house was sold by rich lister Hunter and Powell, who had first brought it to market in 2016 with a price tag of "around $20m".
20 Rawene Avenue. Photo / File
OneRoof reported last November that it had sold, but the sale price has remained confidential until now.
Tenby Powell said the property sold some time ago with a delayed settlement to accommodate the De Vos family, owners of American Magic, who lived in it during the America's Cup.
"The house had been on the market for a while and we geared up the sale process to coincide with our move back to Tauranga - which for me happened over two years ago now.
"Sharon and I love being back in the Bay and this is now our home."
Powell said houses like this one took a while to sell and there were a "number of people interested".
But he said he and Hunter wanted the home to go to the right buyer, who the pair has kept in contact with regularly.
"They are a wonderful family."
Powell said the home was a "very special place" and "incredible venue" that hosted some high-profile people and two "prime-ministerial" and government functions.
"It's been a centre of gravity to bring people together.
"We hope to create something similar, on a much smaller scale, here in Tauranga."
The property had been marketed for sale by Bayleys Remuera sales agent Sarah Liu and has a 2017 CV of $12.75 million.
The sale price has remained confidential until now. Photo / File
It has everything a rich-lister and Hollywood star could want, including a home theatre and a sound-insulated music room.
Completed in 2011, the property was the result of nearly five year's work by Powell and Hunter, their designers and builders. They secured two side-by-side sections on the tightly held street between Herne Bay and Westmere to create a 1978sq m site and then briefed Ponting Fitzgerald Architects for a house that connected land to the sea.
British actor Jason Statham is pictured after leaving a coffee shop in Westmere in 2017. Photo / File
Ponds that start at the front of the house connect all the way to the sea, weaving inside and outside the house, finishing at the 17m infinity pool that hovers over the water. Ponting used concrete cast in rough cedar for the walls, fine steel joinery for the windows and crafted cedar for the ceilings and finishes.
"Concrete earths the house. Then the cedar forms wrap and define the spaces to be playful. The sun plays off the concrete walls," Ponting said in a video promoting the house.
During his stint in Auckland, Statham was frequently spotted around the neighbourhood, even stopping to pose for selfies with stunned locals and fans.
Former Tauranga mayor Tenby Powell and his wife, business leader Sharon Hunter. Photo / File
Statham, 53, who also starred in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, The Transporter and the Fast and Furious franchise, was also spotted at Piha with Rosie Huntington-Whiteley during his stay.
The couple started dating in 2010 and got engaged in 2016 before having a baby together in 2017.
It has everything a rich-lister and Hollywood star could want. Photo / File
The Rawene Avenue home has had other famous visitors, including Prince Albert of Monaco, and has been used as a venue for high-profile functions.
