From home to car park

This Remuera home was sold for $2 million and then demolished and turned into a car park. Photo / Nick Reed

Site of bowled Remuera home is marking time as a car park, but it lacks consent, says council.

A stately home with a CV of $2.6 million that stood for nearly a century in Remuera Rd has been demolished by its new owner and turned into a parking lot.

But the paved paradise next to Newmarket police station - now leased to Wilson Parking - is under investigation by Auckland Council, which says the commercial car park does not have resource consent.

Former owner John Corban lived in the sprawling seven-bedroom, two-bathroom Mediterranean-inspired home for most of his life. His father bought the property in 1944 and ran a GP practice there for 30 years until his death.

Mr Corban, 77, sold the old house in September 2012 for $1.86 million in a bid to downsize. "It was from a certain era. The house was needing quite a bit of repair."

QV documents show the buyer was Ganzhong Ni, who is also the listed owner of a five-bedroom Paritai Dr home valued at $3.1 million.

Mr Corban believed the new owner and his family briefly lived in the property before bulldozing the house last year, clearing the site and turning it into a 30-lot car park.

The stately Corban home has been replaced by a car park. Photo / Nick Reed

"The owners are probably going to put up a high-rise apartment when the Unitary Plan comes into effect," said Mr Corban, a former Herald proofreader. "It was always on the cards that they were going to pull it down," he said.

He wished the character home could have been restored to its former glory instead of used for parking.

"I suppose he's maximising his returns on it."

McCarthy Real Estate listing material described the "classic brick and plaster stately home" as showing decades of wear and tear but awaiting a loving restoration. With sea views, sunrooms, dining and formal lounge areas, the 746sq m property was in the double grammar zone and also had a two-bedroom granny flat, used as Dr Corban's surgery.

A council spokeswoman yesterday said the car park did not have resource consent. "Our compliance team is ... in discussions with the property owner to find a solution."

There were no redevelopment consents for the site, which was zoned Residential 8C, allowing a range of higher-density housing options.

Wilson Parking confirmed it had been operating there for several months as the owner wanted to use the site as a car park for "holding income".

Paved paradise

• Stately Remuera Rd seven-bedroom home sold for nearly $2 million then demolished and turned into a car park.

• New owner using parking funds as "holding income".

• Council says no resource consent issued for car park and the matter is now under investigation.