- A partially restored heritage villa in Dunedin is for sale after the owner abandoned renovation plans.
- 1 Phillips Street has consent for conversion into five flats and is marketed as a development opportunity.
- Owner Sharon Rowe cited difficulties managing the renovation from overseas and hopes a buyer will restore the villa.
A partially restored heritage villa has come up for sale in Dunedin after the overseas owner abandoned plans to turn it into a block of flats.
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The property at 1 Phillips Street, in Kensington, has building and resource consent for conversion into five flats.
It is on the market with Harcourts listing agent Melissa Shipman, who is also selling the two properties next door.
The three properties are being pitched as a development opportunity, offering a near-2000sqm corner site with a combined RV of close to $1 million.
Inside the two-storey villa. The vendor had planned to turn the mansion into flats. Photo / Supplied
Shipman told OneRoof: “I have the listings for 1 Phillips Street and 3 Phillips Street, and I have the quiet listing for 3 South Road next door. A developer could buy all three.
“They are separate owners, and you would have to meet their requirements. But the three sites could be purchased by a single buyer.”
The owner of 1 Phillips Street, Sharon Rowe, told OneRoof that she bought the villa in 2012 as a long-term do-up project, but was walking away now because the renovation was proving difficult to manage from overseas.
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“When I bought it, I fell in love with the ceilings, fireplaces and the grand staircase.”
She said the renovation had been a massive challenge. “Everything was a challenge. Being overseas has been the most difficult thing. It has just been too difficult to manage.”
She hopes that the property will be bought by someone who can bring the house back to life. “Someone who loves heritage properties and who will retain and enhance the heritage features,” she told OneRoof.
“It is a lovely building with some grand features that can be enhanced.”
The land next door at 3 Phillips Street is also on the market for sale with the same listing agent. Photo / Supplied
Fire consumes the former boarding house at 3 Phillips Street in October 2023. Photo / Stephen Jaquiery
She added: “We have planning consent, which was an extensive process. Some of the windows and walls have been rebuilt.”
The project also took a hit when the historic villa next door, at 3 Phillips Street, was destroyed in two devastating fires.
The first blaze, in April 2022, resulted in the death of a tenant. A second fire, in 2023, consumed the remainder of the derelict villa.
Owner Brent Matthews told OneRoof in 2024 that the payout from the insurance was not enough to rebuild the 100-year-old property, and he had decided to sell.
Both 1 and 3 Phillips Street are known locally as the Two Sisters and were built 100 years ago.
- 1 and 3 Phillips Street, in Kensington, Dunedin, are for sale, tenders closing July 17
