- Geoff Marsland sold his home for $1.775m to a US buyer who shares his love of cars.
- The coffee baron also sold the neighbouring cottage to a local architect.
- Marsland is still seeking buyers for the Wellington headquarters of Havana Coffee.
A Wellington coffee baron has sold his impressive waterfront home and neighbouring cottage as part of his plans to offload part of his property collection.
Start your property search
Havana Coffee Works co-founder Geoff Marsland has listed some of his Wellington buildings, now that he has sold his coffee business to Lion NZ and has more free time to spend in his new home in Queen Charlotte Sounds, in Marlborough.
Marsland told OneRoof: “You’ve got to let go of some stuff to let new stuff in. [That's] what I’m doing.”
Marsland's five-bedroom family home on Rangiuru Road, in Mahina Bay, Eastbourne, which he owned with wife Lizzy, was the first to go. It sold to a US buyer with NZ residency for $1.775 million in March - above the $1.5m paid in 2011.
Geoff Marsland: “You’ve got to let go of some stuff to let new stuff in. [That's] what I’m doing.” Photo / Supplied
The view from Marsland's home on Rangiuru Road, in Mahina Bay, is stunning, but the buyer was more interested in the triple car garaging. Photo / Supplied
“He absolutely loves it – he’s an interesting guy,” Marsland said of the buyer, who shares his passion for Mercedes cars.
Marsland joked that when the buyer stepped into the triple garage at Rangiuru Road and saw the sign “Mercedes Parking Only”, he knew it was meant to be. “He walked inside and saw that sign and thought, 'It must be a sign.' Well, it was a sign.”
The property hit the market for sale in February and sold within a month. Marsland said the buyer "had residency already, but it was ironic that the day it opened up to overseas buyers, a guy from overseas bought the property”.
Discover more:
- ‘Secret’ House of the Year for sale: Over 100 people crowd first open home
- Aucklanders who saved a South Island icon now selling for over $15.5m
- Pipi’s Pizza cookbook author selling her beloved Hawke’s Bay homestead
A local architect who missed out on Rangiuru Road snapped up the neighbouring two-bedroom cottage.
She had been drawn to the special location and planned to design a new home to put on the site, Marsland said.
Marsland said he was still looking for a new owner for Havana HQ, the distinctive green building on the corner of Tory Street and Francis Place, which has an asking price of $3.575m.
Havana Coffee is the anchor tenant for the buildings, and has the roaster, the head office and a cafe onsite. A six-bedroom penthouse is above it, and to the rear in a secondary building are two apartments, a ground-floor workshop and carparks.
Marsland said the buildings were a great investment, with an annual net income of about $250,000 plus GST, and he couldn’t understand why no one had bought the properties yet.
163 Tory Street and 1-3 Francis Place, in Te Aro, Wellington, are the centre of the Havana coffee empire. Photo / Supplied
Marsland compares the building to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Photo / Supplied
Meanwhile, two colourful cottages that have been home to Havana Bar and Restaurant for almost 20 years are also up for grabs.
The Havana Bar and Restaurant business and buildings at 32a–34 Wigan Street, in Te Aro can be bought together for an advertised asking price of $2m.
Marsland, who co-owns the character cottages with the business owners Potti Wagstaff and Roger Young, said they were extremely well known in the city, adding that he stumbled across them when they had to find a new premises to roast their coffee after the rooftop of Midnight Espresso caught fire when they were roasting it there.
“They are really cool inside.”
Over the years, Marsland has picked up a raft of distinctive Wellington properties, including Queen’s Picture Theatre and Loretta restaurant on Cuba Street, but told OneRoof that he was not ready to let those go yet.
- Click here to find more properties for sale in Wellington
