A man in his 90s is yet to find a buyer for his family home, which sits in the shadow of a huge supermarket set to open its doors in a matter of days.
The listing agent said the family had fielded several low-ball offers but needed to receive
Point Chevalier home unsold after several years as New World supermarket set to open next door
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Andrews is now living in Mt Albert, and his sons, in their 70s, are understood to live in the home.
Listing agent Shirley Daniels of Beckett Real Estate told the Herald the property had received several low offers during the years it has been on the market, while the supermarket was under construction over the back fence.
“Why are [they] staying there? They don’t have a choice. They’ve been there 70 years,” Daniels said.
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“They don’t know what to do, they don’t know where to go. They cannot sell for under a million because there’s nothing in Point Chev for under a million that they can move into.
“John’s had a fall, he’s just recovering, so we’ll have a meeting again next week and we’ll go over some more options.
“I think it’s time.”
“They’re a good family. They’re very down to earth.
“They know what they want. They’re not going to be forced out ... they’re not sitting there going, ‘Oh, no, we’re not going to move’.”
In 2023, an investor tried to help them out by suggesting a house swap, Daniels said.
“He had us look at a very, very nice property with a higher value down by the beach in Point Chev. He was really good, and the problem with that [is] it had three flights of stairs,” Daniels said.
The three flights of stairs were not an option because of knee and back problems members of the family had.
“[Last year] was very quiet. We had a couple of people trying to get it for under a million, and I was like, ‘Do you have anything else you can offer for them to move into if you’re going to pay nothing?’
“People are like, ‘Oh, do they need to go somewhere?’ It’s like, ‘Wow’.”
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Andrews claims he’s being ‘forced out’
In 2022, the supermarket giant paid $2.5m for the house next door to Andrews’ home, the Herald previously reported.
Then in 2023, it spent $9.3m buying land behind and on the other side of Andrews’ house that had formerly contained the Point Chevalier RSA and lawn bowls fields.
Stuff reported Andrews turned down a Foodstuffs offer of $2.5m before work started because he believed the sum was not enough for his property.
Andrews denied this to the Herald in 2024, however, saying he was not a holdout but was instead being driven out.
“We haven’t had an offer,” he said about Foodstuffs.
Daniels told the Herald today the family never got an official offer from Foodstuffs for the property.
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Today, the company’s website says Foodstuffs is “really excited” to be joining the Point Chev community.
“For us, it’s not just about opening a store, it’s about settling in, getting to know people, and being part of something special here.”
The state-of-the-art supermarket is aiming to draw tens of thousands of shoppers weekly in the suburb, which so far only has a small Woolworths.
The supermarket has risen beside derelict buildings on a long-abandoned tyre and vehicle lot, enclosed in rusty security fencing.
The Herald has approached Foodstuffs New Zealand for comment.
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