The iconic hilltop Wellington castle at the centre of a true crime documentary flopped at auction today.
The former luxury dog retreat, known as Woofington’s, was on the block almost a year after it last sold.
The property, a distinctive yellow chateau on Hawkins Hill Road, in Brooklyn, last changed hands for $3.2 million – below its RV of $3.68m. But circumstances changed, and the mortgagee stepped in.
At today's auction at Harcourts, the auctioneer alluded to the castle's strange history. He also declared he couldn't make vendor bids, which meant those in the room had to start him off with a number, any number. But no one put up their hand, and the property passed in.
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It's now back on the open market, with the mortgagee asking for offers by 4pm, Monday July 20.
The listing followed the release of TVNZ’s new true crime documentary about the property, What the Hell Happened at Woofington’s?
The documentary covers the police raid at the castle in 2019 and the subsequent charge of a man after officers discovered “an improvised explosive device” on the premises.
TVNZ journalist Baz Macdonald charted allegations of animal mistreatment, drugs, kidnapping, and armed burglary, and includes harrowing testimony from two women who worked at Woofington’s.
When the property appeared on the market last month with Harcourts, the agency declined to comment.
The castle looks out over the capital city and toward Cook Strait. Photo / Supplied
The previous listing agent told OneRoof that the castle could be turned into an ambassadorial residence. Photo / Supplied
However, the property’s owner, Travis Mackay, told OneRoof that the property “is not actually for sale”.
“We signed up with a second-tier or third-tier bloody lender, and they’ve jumped the procedure by a whole heap of things. My lawyers are on to it,” Mackay said last month.
Mackay said he had tried to stop the mortgagee sale listing from going ahead. “We tried listing it with a different company just to put it under contract to see if that would work, just to slow things down. But that didn’t work either, so my lawyers are sorting it out,” he said.
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OneRoof asked Harcourts about Mackay’s claims, but the agency declined to comment.
Mackay said that while he hadn’t seen the TVNZ documentary, he’d been sent it “about 1000 times. I haven’t watched it, no. I already know all that because I’ve known Brian for 30 years, I’ve been trying to buy [the property] off him for about 25 years.”
Mackay’s accommodation business is one of several he runs, including earth-moving, scaffolding, construction and property.
He had listed the Hawkins Hill Road property on Airbnb as Brooklyn Castle. It also appeared on the website Wellington Castle Estate, which advertises rates of $1495 per night in peak holiday season for exclusive groups of up to 10 guests in five bedrooms.
OneRoof previously reported on the castle when it was listed for sale in 2025. Then listing agent Glen Jones, from New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty, told OneRoof that the property was one-of-a-kind.
“We’re thinking it could be an ambassadorial residence, a corporate retreat or a wellness centre. It’s ideal for hosting large parties,” he said in March 2025.
The property was being sold by Wellington developer and financier Brian Willman, who picked it up in 1998 for $241,875, according to a report in the New Zealand Herald.
Back then, the main building on the 4028sqm section was a large concrete compound, which had started life as a radar bunker for Airways Corporation.
Willman turned the bunker into a medieval castle, from which he ran several businesses, including Woofington’s, a luxury hotel for dogs, which closed in 2021.
Jones told OneRoof the transformation of the property had been a labour of love for him. “It’s amazing, and you know, Wellington weather being Wellington weather, it’s often called Castle in the Clouds because it’s right up there above it all.”
Jones was unable to comment on the November sale when OneRoof contacted him.
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