- Sir Graham Henry is selling his one-bedroom apartment in Auckland’s Wynyard Quarter, valued at $1.325m.
- The Henrys bought the apartment in 2019 as an investment but are now reducing obligations.
- The area, revitalised since 2011, is highly sought after, with limited apartments available annually.
Former All Blacks coach Sir Graham Henry is selling his "spare" apartment in Auckland’s Wynyard Quarter.
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Sir Graham and wife Lady Henry, who spend most of their time on Waiheke Island, own two pads in the waterfront enclave.
Back in 2015, they bought the first off the plan, and at the time, Sir Graham happily extolled the virtues of the regenerated precinct to the media.
“Auckland’s growing by the month, and this area is an exciting part of it. Raewyn and I have been looking for an apartment to be part of that excitement,” Sir Graham told the Herald on Sunday.
The Henrys were such fans of the area that they bought a second, smaller apartment in Wynyard Quarter in 2019 as an investment.
Sir Graham and Lady Henry bought 201/134 Halsey Street in 2019. Photo / Supplied
The property has been rented out for the last six years, but the Henrys have decided to sell. Photo / Supplied
The one-bedroom property at 201/134 Halsey Street is now on the market for sale with an RV of $1.325 million.
“We thought it was a good investment, sitting in the right place. That area is highly thought of, and a lot of people want to live there,” Sir Graham told OneRoof this week.
The area first came to life in 2011 as city officials scrambled to turn the former fishing and industrial wasteland into new public spaces for the crowds of locals and tourists who flooded into Auckland for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, which Sir Graham’s squad famously won.
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The new neighbourhood kicked off with the playgrounds and open-air cinema at Silo Park, the historic North Wharf buildings were revived as a cool strip of bars and restaurants, and Karanga Plaza and the Wynyard Crossing Bridge connected the quarter with the fan zones and the rest of the Viaduct. Apartments and office blocks followed, with the final pieces of the puzzle, the marine precinct nearest Westhaven marina, now being built out.
“It is the hub of the city,” Sir Graham said. “It is right on the harbour in one of the best cities in the world. More and more people are living here, and a lot of the big companies have offices in the area.”
“I think Wayne Brown’s done some good there,” he added, referring to the repaired bridge to the Viaduct and the new seaside public pool.
Sir Graham and Lady Henry in 2016. They love Wynyard Quarter: “It is the hub of the city.” Photo / Norrie Montgomery
Sir Graham Henry and Richie McCaw at the victory parade for the All Blacks after their Rugby World Cup win in 2011. Photo / Natalie Slade
“Halsey Street is very special because it is just along from the America’s Cup. We enjoy the international yachting on the harbour, it is fantastic.”
Sir Graham said he and Raewyn were only a five-minute walk away from the ferry to Waiheke Island, and told OneRoof how they love walking around the Westhaven boardwalk to the marina and cafes.
“It’s the biggest marina, we’re the City of Sails,” Sir Graham said. “There are always lots of people running and walking and biking. You can watch the yachting or go out on your boat and catch a fish.”
The couple, who lived in Auckland’s eastern bays after they returned from Sir Graham’s coaching gig in Wales in 2002, decided to move into the city when their kids started to have children themselves (their oldest grandchild is now 18).
People cool off in Browny’s Pool in the precinct. Photo / Alex Robertson
And while Sir Graham is shy about naming too many names, he said a lot of sporting friends have borrowed the couple’s city base when visiting Auckland.
“It is used frequently, and the kids use it a lot – one of our sons is in the Coromandel, one in Te Kauwhata. And when our Auckland daughter wants to have her friends in the city for a meal, they stay the night. The oldest grandchild is 18, so they will have time with their mates in the city too.”
Sir Graham said that buying the rental apartment was an easy decision. “We have had two renters [in six years], and the current renter, I think, would like to stay if she could. There is a theatre, a gym, and business centre. It’s a great area that just gets better by the year.”
Sir Graham said that it was time to get rid of the rental property now that the couple, in their late 70s, were “approaching late middle age”.
“We don’t want too many obligations.”
Wynyard Quarter attracts office workers, tourists and locals looking for a place to unwind. Photo / Supplied
Barfoot & Thompson agent Carl Madsen, who is marketing 201/134 Halsey Street, knows the area well, having first sold the apartments off the plan for developer Willis Bond in 2015.
Unlike other earlier developments on leasehold land, Willis Bond had negotiated a 128-year pre-paid lease on the land so the properties could be bought as freehold, Madsen said.
He told OneRoof that when he and colleagues were first selling the apartments, they would take buyers through the master plan for the whole area. “As we explained what was going to happen in the area, it was a matter of ‘which apartment do you want?’ It was easy,” he said.
He noted that very few of the 200-plus apartments in Wynyard Quarter come to market each year, with about 90% of the owners living there. “The apartments have held their value. They have a Homestar 7 rating and are very livable.
“I live in Ponsonby, and my wife and I will go down to Wynyard Quarter and think we are in a grown-up city; it just feels so good.”
- 201/134 Halsey Street, Wynyard Quarter, Auckland, is for sale by negotiation
