By ANNE BESTON
It's often the way - you finally get around to buying that seaside holiday home only to discover that there is not enough leisure time to make the most of it.
Busy Christchurch businessman Robert Auton has had to put his "holiday home" on the market, only in
his case it is a $5 million slice of the world's first Versace-branded hotel on Queensland's Gold Coast.
Mr Auton, who owns an engineering and manufacturing business in Christchurch, has two apartments at the Palazzo Versace, the resort development designed under the brand of the famous Italian fashion house. It opened last year.
Without enough time to spend there, Mr Auton has put his two three-bedroom apartments up for sale.
An added incentive is that the wall between them could be knocked down to create a six-bedroom apartment that would "really cater for the kids," said PDL Realty's Marc Buskey.
The combined apartments would include four bathrooms and a powder room, an informal and formal lounge, designer kitchens, four secure carparks and two marina berths with a harbourmaster to moor your boat.
The view from the second-floor apartments is over the hotel marina and the Southport lagoon.
The buyer would be able to use all the plush Palazzo Versace facilities - 24-hour room service, 60m-long heated indoor pool (with its own sandy beach and bar), spa area and gym.
"Everything you could possibly want is available," Mr Buskey said, describing the Palazzo Versace hotel as "six-star" luxury.
He said Mr Auton's asking price was realistic and although the property had not been formally advertised, it had already attracted nine interested buyers.
A New Zealand couple had been shown through and another possible buyer was a corporate that might use the apartment for overseas guests.
The cost of combining the two apartments was estimated at about $100,000 but that was included in the asking price.
Queensland property developer Sohel Abedian persuaded the Versace family to give its name to the resort. One of the many Italian touches is a 500sq m courtyard designed in pebbles, laid by five craftsmen flown out from Italy.
The 72 apartments or condominiums, floored in Italian mosaic, began selling for $A250,000 ($310,075) before the complex was built. The record resale price is $A4.8 million.
The hotel's room rates start at $A430 a night, rising to $A4000.
Those thinking about picking up a souvenir should think twice - each room is checked every day for missing items and they are added to the guest's bill. Bathrobes are a mere $A3200 and cups $A120.
Mr Buskey said Donatella Versace, sister of Versace founder Gianni Versace, who was murdered in Florida in 1997, had yet to visit the resort.
By ANNE BESTON
It's often the way - you finally get around to buying that seaside holiday home only to discover that there is not enough leisure time to make the most of it.
Busy Christchurch businessman Robert Auton has had to put his "holiday home" on the market, only in
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