- Lake Waitaki Village in North Otago is for sale again and is inviting buyer enquiry from $2.9m.
- The historic village attracted interest from an American rock star the last time it hit the market.
- Agent Kelli Williams highlights its potential and says its seriously for sale this around.
Sometimes one house isn’t enough. An entire lakeside village in North Otago is up for grabs again, more than six years after its listing first made international headlines.
Start your property search
The 14-hectare Lake Waitaki Village comes with eight three-bedroom houses, including two that have been renovated, a large five-bedroom lodge, a cafe/bar with a full commercial kitchen and a 10-bay car garaging.
According to the listing agent, it is now seriously for sale and inviting buyer enquiry from $2.9 million.
The village, which is 7km from Kurow and 50km from Oamaru, was built in the 1930s to house workers on the nearby Waitaki Dam.
At its peak, more than 2000 people lived in the village. The brick houses were reserved for the managers while old photos show rows and rows of wooden huts for the workers.
Those huts were relocated around the region once the dam was automated and now there are just three groups of people residing there – the owner in the main lodge and tenants in the only two cottages which have been renovated.
Two of the eight three-bedroom cottages have been renovated. Photo / Supplied
One Agency listing agent Kelli Williams said the owners bought the dilapidated village for $294,000 in 2001. They had big plans for the site and carried out a huge amount of work over the years, including opening the café and running an accommodation business.
However, when their marriage broke up they put their property plans on hold. “Lots of it has been done up really hugely, but there’s lots to do,” Williams told OneRoof.
While two of the cottages had been renovated, there were six more that had been stripped inside and needed renovating. The exteriors of the homes were heritage-protected and could not be altered, but the interior could.
Discover more:
- Great-granny ‘sad’ after finally selling school she saved from the scrapheap
- Divine Wellington church to be bowled after selling for $1.5m below RV
- Christchurch housing market keeping everyone honest - 'buyers don't have to overpay'
The property was first put on the market for sale in 2016 and the listing went viral in 2018. People from around the world got in touch, including an American rock star.
“It went viral for a reason – you can’t buy a village every day. Not on a tourist route and in a part of a country like this that hasn’t fully hit its stride yet ... It’s a great opportunity for someone is all I can say. I just hope someone can see the vision like I can,” she said.
“I was on live TV in Canada, interviewed on radio in Germany – it was insane. Basically, every newspaper picked it up and ran it.”
The village includes a cafe and bar and a five-bedroom lodge. Photo / Supplied
The cafe was upgraded by the current owners who even opened it for a stint. Photo / Supplied
But the owner had a change of heart about selling and pulled it from the market. He then started looking into subdividing the land so he could sell the buildings off individually as holiday homes.
However, another change in circumstances has forced him to shelve those plans and the property is now back on the market and seriously for sale.
The owner wasn’t quite ready to let it go last time, but now he was, Williams said. “This time they are both ready to let it go. It’s time.”
Williams said the property offered plenty of potential and now just needed someone to see the vision and finish the project.
Options included running a conference venue, a massive Airbnb style accommodation or even a commune.
“It’s a historically significant location and an amazing patch of land on a main tourist highway, which is only getting bigger with all of the things going on in our region – the Alps2Ocean trail and the Waitaki Whitestone Geopark.”
Williams said Oamaru was nearby and the location was an amazing part of the country. Earlier this month, the stars and crew of the Netflix series East of Eden, starring Florence Pugh and Kieran Heinz, took over Oamaru’s Victorian Precinct, which is thought to house the country’s best selection of buildings from the 1800s, to film the show.
- 567 Otematata-Kurow Road is for sale by way of deadline, closing February 28
