NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Business

Trouble on Auckland waterfront

Anne Gibson
By Anne Gibson
Property Editor·NZ Herald·
22 Oct, 2012 04:30 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The Hilton Hotel, which sold recently for $40 million, sits on one of New Zealand's most prestigious pieces of real estate. Photo / Richard Robinson

The Hilton Hotel, which sold recently for $40 million, sits on one of New Zealand's most prestigious pieces of real estate. Photo / Richard Robinson

Princes Wharf apartment owner disputes value as outgoings soar.

A 207 per cent rise in outgoings has left a Princes Wharf apartment owner fuming. He estimates that the value of his property has halved in seven years but a management executive disagrees.

Stephen Suess said he faced unpalatable cost increases on his unit in Shed 23 and spoke out after Scene Three apartment owners on Beach Rd decried a proposed 470 per cent outgoings rise, partly due to a big leasehold land bill increase.

But Mark French, director of the wharf's overall site manager, Dockland Management, said fee increases were in line with the area, particularly the nearby Viaduct.

"Everything is pretty good down here at Princes Wharf," French said. "These apartments are leasehold, which doesn't always appeal to everyone investing in the property market but, ... generally, owners are happy."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Apartment values were being retained but carpets needed replacement, buildings needed painting, and charges were not high for the standard provided, he said.

"With operating expenses, there's fluctuations from time to time and the buildings down here are up to 11 years old, in a marine environment, and require more repairs and maintenance than the average building.

"Princes Wharf is probably one of New Zealand's premier and most prestigious [pieces of] real estate and people like to have things very nice but sometimes you get displeasure between people who want high standards and others who are investors and want a different standard."

Suess said he was astonished at annual bills being charged for units all along the waterfront.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"We bought a three-bedroom apartment on the top floor for $730,000 towards the end of 2005.

"Our outgoings were a bit over $13,000 per year at the time. The body corporate just went up this month and so now the outgoings are just around $40,000 per year. We tried selling the apartment last year and, in fact, had it up for auction and no one was interested.

"In fact, a similar one sold for $375,000 around then."

That had a $720,000 CV which Suess said was unrealistic.

Discover more

Business

Four big NZ hotels sell for $170m

10 Sep 05:30 PM
New Zealand

City's history of missing the boat

24 Sep 05:30 PM
New Zealand

Creating right balance for future of waterfront

27 Sep 05:30 PM
Business

Singaporean millionaire secures Hilton deal consent

01 Oct 04:30 PM

"It was clearly wrong, as shown by the prices equal apartments were selling at, but the realtor at the time told me to not say anything as it would hurt the sales potential of the place," he said.

Shed 23 stands between Shed 22 and 24, all facing west.

The Hilton is in Shed 21 at the northeastern tip of the wharf.

Suess said he wanted other unhappy owners to speak out but said they feared publicity would hurt the value of their apartments.

"From what I hear, we could not even get enough rent for the unit to cover the outgoings without any mortgage anymore, so right there from an investment point of view these apartments are worthless."

He and his family moved to New Zealand from California in 2002 and he now lives in Kerikeri, while a family member lives in the Princes Wharf unit.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He had lived in England and assumed New Zealand land leases were like British ones.

"Well, I was very mistaken and am sorry we ever bought the place. If anyone ever asked me, I would strongly suggest they do not purchase leasehold land in NZ."

As outgoings go up and rents do not keep up, the returns go south and investors are advised to sell out and leave, which collapses the price of the apartments, he said.

"Couple this with the apparent and utter lack of any control over costs on the part of owners and, in our case, a lack of expenses transparency on the part of those in control and, well, the confidence to own such apartments evaporates," he said.

"I suspect the next step is that new developers will realise that apartments are too cheap along the Auckland waterfront and thus will not be able to build new ones at a profit and the waterfront development so desired by the council will come to a halt."

He wants the Government to provide the framework for what he says should be a fair and equitable relationship on leasehold land..

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Gary Bottema of Colliers International, which manages the wharf complex, said he could not answer questions about fee rises at the wharf and referred questions to Docklands.

Princes Wharf

*Six 'sheds' designed by Colin Leuschke

*More than 300 apartments

*Cruise-ship theme in building design

*Developed by David Henderson's Kitchener Group

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

*Hilton Auckland just sold for about $40m

*Weathertightness repairs have been needed

*Managed by Colliers International Property Management

Colliers works for Docklands Holdings

What they said

"... from an investment point of view these apartments are worthless."
Stephen Suess, Shed 23 apartment owner

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"These apartments are leasehold which doesn't always appeal to everyone investing in the property market but ... generally owners are happy."
Mark French, director Docklands Management

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Business

Premium
New Zealand

'Bringing the community together': Young new owner's plans for Hastings cinema

Premium
Retail

HelloFresh pleads guilty after ‘subscription traps’ tricked customers

Business

Former Auckland accountant gets community detention for $94k Covid loan fraud


Sponsored

Tired of missing out on getting to global summits to help grow your business?

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Business

Premium
Premium
'Bringing the community together': Young new owner's plans for Hastings cinema
New Zealand

'Bringing the community together': Young new owner's plans for Hastings cinema

'I believe if there’s fair prices, people would love to come back to the movies.'

14 Jul 04:29 AM
Premium
Premium
HelloFresh pleads guilty after ‘subscription traps’ tricked customers
Retail

HelloFresh pleads guilty after ‘subscription traps’ tricked customers

14 Jul 03:51 AM
Former Auckland accountant gets community detention for $94k Covid loan fraud
Business

Former Auckland accountant gets community detention for $94k Covid loan fraud

14 Jul 03:47 AM


Tired of missing out on getting to global summits to help grow your business?
Sponsored

Tired of missing out on getting to global summits to help grow your business?

14 Jul 04:48 AM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP