- Cecil Peak Station, a 13,400ha sheep and cattle farm on Lake Wakatipu, is for sale at $60m.
- The property, owned by Singaporean vendors, includes Crown leasehold land with 5000 sheep and 500 cattle.
- John Greenwood seeks a buyer with vision, ideally a Kiwi, to potentially re-launch it for tourism.
It’s a New Zealand icon, and it’s on the market for the first time in over 30 years. It’s also looking for a buyer with $60 million to spend.
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Bayleys listing agent John Greenwood reckons only a handful of people can afford Cecil Peak Station, a 13,400ha sheep and cattle farm on Lake Wakatipu, in Queenstown-Lakes.
“We put this out to only 22 people on our database, people with the right sort of vision,” he told OneRoof.
Greenwood is casting his net overseas but said “it will be easier if we can find a Kiwi because it is such an iconic property".
“I don’t want to put foreigners off, but it would be great if it went to a Kiwi. Equally, a foreign buyer is going to do what the OIO wants them to do, which is add value to the country, opening it up to tourism.”
Listing agent John Greenwood thinks the station’s stone houses can be turned into tourist ventures. Photo / Supplied
The iconic station is home to 300-500 cattle and 5000 sheep. Photo / Supplied
The property can only be accessed by boat or helicopter. Photo / Supplied
In its tourism heyday, Cecil Peak Station attracted thousands of visitors, who would take the picturesque trip across the lake from Queenstown. Tourism ceased in the 1960, with neighbouring Walter Peak now the lake’s main attraction.
The property, which consists predominantly of Crown leasehold land and is home to 5000 sheep and 500 cattle, has an RV of $33m, but Greenwood said it was worth double that.
The vendors, who are from Singapore, bought the station in 1991 to add to their growing New Zealand property portfolio. Greenwood said the potential to add value was enormous. "The right owner could re-launch Cecil Peak in almost any tourism market,” he said, pointing to the success of the Ayrburn hospitality precinct near Arrowtown, which turned the original stone buildings into crowd-grabbing restaurants and pubs.
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A high-end tourism operation hosting wealthy international hunters would be ideal, he said, as the country was “infested” with deer. “When I first went across, my first thought was to turn the station’s stone buildings into a hunting lodge. They are just sitting there waiting to be re-established.”
Cecil Peak’s attraction to VIP clients is that it can only be accessed by boat or helicopter. It already has several building platforms, all by the water, for security-conscious buyers who want to build the trophy mansion beside the 23km of waterfront.
Cecil Peak isn’t the only large landholding to hit the market in recent months.
Also on the market for sale is Boomrock Station, in Greater Wellington. Photo / Supplied
The 278ha property has tourist accommodation and a 900m racetrack. Photo / Supplied
Thirty minutes from Wellington is Boomrock Station, on the cliffs above Pipinui Point, in Ohariu. The 278ha property, which offers 5km of private coastline, is on the market for the first time in 100 years.
It has been run as a sheep and beef farm but in the last 20 years, it has added a stylish lodge that hosts events for up to 100 guests, bunkers for clay bird shooting, a private 900m racetrack, and a two-bedroom luxury retreat.
The racetrack can also be used as a landing strip for small aircraft, and the bush surrounding the property is being restored to protect the local wildlife.
Future Isles listing agent David Maxwell said the property would be of interest to investors keen to expand the commercial operations, developers looking to subdivide the land, and buyers wanting to create a private retreat.
“This is more than land; it is a living heritage, four generations of stewardship woven into a property that has become one of New Zealand’s most distinctive destinations,” Maxwell told OneRoof.
An 82ha dairy farm at 759 Kaipaki Road, in Ohaupo, is one of the big tracts of riverside land between Hamilton Cambridge. Photo / Supplied
In the Waikato, on the banks of the Waikato River, Bayleys agent Peter Kelly is selling an 82ha dairy farm.
He told OneRoof that the property was one of the last big blocks of riverside land between Cambridge and Hamilton. “Its value will transcend more than just dairy farming. It is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to acquire a piece of land of this size,” he said, noting that the block could be a working farm, a horse stud, or a “rich man’s hobby farm".
He added: “It could appeal to an expat buyer who wants a nice piece of land – they want to own a nice piece of their own country again.”
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