- A five-bedroom luxury apartment in Freemans Bay is for sale for $6.995m.
- The property includes 575sqm of living space and an option to buy an attached hotel for $13.5m.
- Investor Jon Sandler’s design features a private elevator, three living zones and a six-car garage.
According to Bayleys listing agent Blair Haddow, 32 Arthur Street is the largest freehold apartment for sale in New Zealand right now.
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“It’s extraordinary and there’s nothing else like it. There’s nothing you can compare it to, in terms of that volume of space,” he tells OneRoof.
The five-bedroom luxury pad in Auckland’s Freemans Bay is over 1000sqm – including courtyards and terraces – and comes with around 575sqm of living space. It’s for sale for $6.995 million, but buyers willing to pay $13.5m can get the hotel that sits with it.
The man behind the striking property, investor Jon Sandler, has shared with OneRoof its interesting backstory.
The luxurious apartment spans over 1000sqm – including courtyards and terraces – with around 575sqm of living space. Photo / Supplied
The 180-degree outlook extends from the bridge over the busy harbour to Rangitoto and across the city skyline. Photo / Supplied
“The site was the original Sunday School hall for the St Johns Methodist Church. 229A Ponsonby Road at the back is still the old 1880s-odd church, but this was the hall they built in the 1970s.”
Sandler purchased the entire site and has since sold the deconsecrated church, but he wanted to create something special with the hall space. He commissioned architects Young + Richards to create the colossal residence, with part of the brief to pay homage to the church’s gothic revival design, which can be seen in the peaked and angled wall of glass along the front.
The design incorporates a private elevator that connects all three levels, three living zones, five ensuited bedrooms, a media room, a dedicated office (or sixth bedroom) and six-car basement garaging. An industrial-leaning aesthetic is enriched with luxe detailing and light timber floors for warmth.
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“It’s been built like a brick outhouse and has been engineered within a millimetre of its life, with quality materials and finishes all the way through,” says Sandler.
“The master suite is pretty much the size of a small house, about 100-odd square metres. I sit up there most days and work on my iPad, you’re king of the castle.”
As well as sprawling terraces wrapping around the outside, there is also an internal Zen garden-style courtyard cut out at the back of the apartment, “to sit and chill out if you get tired of looking at the view”.
The master suite is about 100sqm and the homeowner says most days he works from there where “you’re king of the castle”. Photo / Supplied
The luxurious master suite bathroom is one of six in the five-bedroom apartment. Photo / Supplied
Chances are slim, as the 180-degree outlook extends from the bridge over the busy harbour to Rangitoto and across the city skyline. Despite being in the middle of Ponsonby, there is no through traffic as it’s tucked at the cul-de-sac end of Arthur Street. There’s also a handy little pedestrian laneway that arrives straight onto Ponsonby Road.
“You can sit with the windows open during peak hour traffic and see and hear nothing, whereas you’re 60 seconds around the corner to 100 cafes on Ponsonby Road. It’s a fabulous spot.”
Where it gets even more interesting is that beneath the apartment is an eight-unit boutique hotel, named Arluxia, which is also part of Sandler’s project.
“We wanted to maximise the site with a view to create an income stream off it – it’s a very expensive piece of dirt. My daughter is at university doing a BCom and Property, so I thought there would be nothing better than for her to get her hands dirty and run a hotel. It’s a profitable, low-touch business model.”
The self-check-in hotel includes eight fully-appointed guest suites with private terraces and expansive city and harbour views. It requires minimal owner input and has a solid operational performance, with forward bookings all the way to 2026.
Sandler says the apartment can be bought separately or with the hotel.
“If the buyer doesn’t want to run the hotel, they don’t have to and they could also essentially turn it into some other form of accommodation, or possibly run an office or something like that there. As well as the six-car garaging, there’s additional off-street parking for 8-10 cars, which is gold in this neighbourhood.”
- 32 Arthur Street, in Freemans Bay, Auckland, is for sale for $6.995m
