- A buyer has been found for an iconic boatshed on Orakei’s Ngapipi Road.
- The 100sqm property had an asking price of $1.69 million, but the final price is undisclosed.
- The new owners plan to use it for water sports storage and entertaining.
A buyer has been found for one of Auckland’s iconic boatsheds - but it's not the international celebrity who called about it when it first hit the market a year ago.
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The 100sqm property on Orakei’s Ngapipi Road had an asking price of $1.69 million, but Bayleys listing agent Matt Bayley declined to say what the new owners had paid.
He did say that they were downsizing and needed a place to store the "water toys".
“They absolutely love the water and water sports. They thought this would be a good place to have a combined entertaining space and somewhere for storage,” Bayley told OneRoof.
He said they were locals and knew the property well. One of the new owners, he said, had driven past it a lot. "He called us when he saw the [for sale] sign."
The shed attracted interest from wealthy buyers and an international celebrity. Photo / Supplied
Boatshed 11 has been refurbished inside and out. Photo / Supplied
The heritage protected property overlooks Whakatakataka Bay. Photo / Supplied
Bayley said hundreds of interested buyers had viewed the shed - one of 17 that line the edge of Whakatakataka Bay.
“These sheds are special. They’re oriented perfectly to capture the afternoon sun,” he said. “We had a lot of high-net-worth people who loved it but just didn’t think the timing was right."
Bayley told OneRoof last year that he had received a call from an international celebrity interested in buying the shed, but declined to identify them for privacy reasons.
The vendor had owned the shed for over 10 years and had bought it when her "girls were into sailing, so for the first few years, we used it as a boat shed. As they got older, I used it as my art studio."
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She added: “When I lived in Remuera, it was easy to come down and use the boathouse for socialising – or simply throw open the doors and enjoy the spectacular sunsets, but now I’m on Waiheke, it doesn’t get used as much as it deserves.
“I think it’s time for it to go to someone else, who appreciates what a special place this is and wants to put their own mark on it.”
Bayley said the shed was a "true collector’s item", noting in his listing that "these unique landmarks are seldom available in such pristine condition".
While most of the sheds on the edge of Whakatakataka Bay are used as offices or retreats, one of them is still occupied by a genuine boat builder.
The sheds are also heritage-protected, and owners must stick to the cream-and-green colour scheme.
Another of the Ngapipi Road boatsheds - one with chandeliers - was sold last year for close to its $1.85m asking price. Photo / Supplied
The shed was one fo the biggest on Ngapipi Road and certainly presented as the most luxurious. Photo / Supplied
Owners have a right to occupy under a coastal permit via resource consent, but the sheds cannot be lived in and can only be used for marine and boating purposes.
Last year, one of the sheds fetched close to its $1.85m asking price after 18 months on the market.
It was one of the more glamorous sheds at the bay, boasting marble and chandeliers, two bathrooms, a yoga room and an office.
The agent who closed the deal, Paul Sissons, from New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty, made headlines in 2023 when he sold a neighbouring shed for $2.015m at auction – more than double Auckland’s median house price at the time. That shed was famous for its appearances at the start of the hit TV show David Lomas Investigates
Sissons said then that most of the sheds on Ngapipi Road had been upgraded. "Everybody’s spending money on them and looking after them. The owners will probably be there for the next 10 years, and then we will start the cycle again,” he said.
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