Fresh from selling his luxury Herne Bay home for $14 million, under-fire property developer Chris Meehan has bought one suburb over for a fraction of the price.
Records show that Speargrass Holdings, the company controlled by Meehan, his wife Michaela and lawyer Jeremy Johnson, purchased a renovated villa on Ponsonby's Ardmore Road in June.
Meehan, who is the driving force behind Ayrburn, the $200 million food, wine, and lifestyle precinct in Queenstown-Lakes, is facing questions about his conduct at his development company, Winton Land.
Bayleys listing agent Blair Haddow noted on social media that the four-bedroom home had fetched $4.95m - almost $2m above RV.
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OneRoof reached out to Meehan for comment but had not heard back at the time of writing.
The four-bedroom Ardmore Road villa was given an extensive makeover after its owners bought it in 2025 for $4.485m. Photo / Supplied
The house, marketed as "haute couture", attracted over 200 people through its open homes. Photo / Supplied
Haddow declined comment on the deal, which settled last week, but said the "haute couture" home had attracted nearly 200 people through its open homes since it went on the market at the end of January.
His vendors, developers Xian Chen and Shaowei Luo, had bought the property a year ago for $2.485m and had carried out an extensive rebuild.
New features included a new kitchen and living wing, a swimming pool, a cinema-quality media room, a separate scullery, and, highly desirable for the street, two off-street car parks.
"All those things cost a fortune," Haddow said, adding that demand for well-presented homes in the area was high. "There is a lack of very, very good stock in Herne Bay and Ponsonby."
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Ardmore Road is one of Ponsonby's most desirable streets and has seen several big sales this year, including one at auction for $4.2m.
Meehan's Ponsonby purchase follows the sale of his extravagant home on Herne Bay Road in May to a company called Greymouth Holdings, for more than double its RV.
The deal took place off-market, and OneRoof understands that Wall Real Estate agency handled the sale.
It comes amid scrutiny of Meehan’s behaviour at Winton Land. Earlier this month, he resigned as director of Winton, following a board exodus and allegations of harassment.
Meehan, who founded Winton and is its majority shareholder, resigned as chief executive and chairman in July after the company launched an investigation into his behaviour.
According to reports in Newsroom, Meehan has been accused of harassing staff members at his companies.
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