The White Heron hotel. Photo / Brett Phibbs
An Auckland site, once famous for its landmark hotel, is being developed into upmarket apartments.
Dominion Construction is building 19 apartments on the former White Heron hotel site in Parnell - a block of land associated with the hotel and Rodean house, which have both been demolished.
Development
is on a 4.4ha block on St Stephens Avenue beside Point Resolution Park.
Agent Deborah Kelland, of Kellands Real Estate, said former Fonterra boss Craig Norgate and motorsport boss Mark Petch were early purchasers.
Equinox Group, a private investment business, is backing development on the site. Kelland said apartments were priced from $1.75 million to $4.15 million.
She expects 40 to 45 people to live there and said it was attracting business people, retirees and families.
Travis Coffey, of Equinox, said there would be an element of nostalgia when work on the site was finished.
"Our aim is to embrace the past while celebrating the new."
Three separate sites were collectively known as the White Heron: the area where the hotel once stood, the portion behind the hotel where the old colonial two-storeyed Rodean house stood and, across the road, the villa site where entertainment entrepreneur Sir Robert Kerridge built modern apartments to accommodate visiting celebrities.
In 1999, the land and buildings were sold by the Okabe family, which had owned the hotel for about a decade. Queen City Group, led by managing director John Williams, bought the land for around $21 million.
Rendell McIntosh, chairman of Parnell Heritage, has repeatedly decried demolition of buildings on the White Heron site, saying greed and destruction by developers was responsible for the demise of of many precious Auckland buildings including Partingtons Mill, His Majesty's Theatre, the White Heron Hotel and Rodean.
"The tragedy for Auckland is that we do not learn from the mistakes and ensure landmark properties are protected and promoted," he said.
