- Ben Cook sold the former Ponsonby Post Office, which he bought for $5 million, for an undisclosed sum.
- The building, generating $376,990 annually, was leased to businesses including Hotel Ponsonby and Skin Institute.
- Cook has also sold other high-profile properties, including New Zealand's largest Bunnings Warehouse for $51 million.
Rich-lister property investor Ben Cook has sold the former Ponsonby Post Office, OneRoof can reveal.
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Cook bought the landmark heritage building on St Marys Bay Road nine years ago for $5 million, and leased it to several businesses over the years, including the high-end bistro Hotel Ponsonby.
He put the building on the market for sale last year with Bayleys listing agents Alan Haydock and Damien Bullick, seeking $7m - almost $2m above CV.
Ben Cook is selling off his property portfolio. Photo / Supplied
Cook also sold the land and buildings occupied by Woolworths at 1 Kelmarna Avenue, in Herne Bay, Auckland, earlier this year. Photo / Supplied
The property was sold in April for an undisclosed sum. OneRoof reached out Haydock and Bullick for comment but had not heard back at the time of publication.
The Bayleys listing for the property noted that it generated a net income of around $376,990 a year, with Hotel Ponsonby's lease running to 2032. The lease for dermatology clinic Skin Institute, which occupies the building's upper floor, runs until 2026.
The sale is just of several high-profile deals Cook has completed in the last 12 months.
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Earlier this year, OneRoof reported that Cook and his business partner, developer Kurt Gibbons, sold the Herne Bay Woolworths on Kelmarna Avenue, with Haydock and Bullick again acting as listing agents.
The building, which Cook and Gibbons developed together, has a CV of $25m and was billed as a $50m property when it first opened under Woolworths’ Countdown brand. Woolworths was locked into a 12-year lease, with the listing agents highlighting it generated just over $1.6m a year plus GST.
Cook's Waiheke bach is still up for grabs. Photo / Supplied
Last year, OneRoof reported that Cook sold New Zealand’s largest Bunnings Warehouse for $51m.
The 16,000sqm branch of the DIY retailer, which sits on a 21,200sqm site in Auckland’s Westgate shopping park, was bought by property investment firm Investore at the end of August.
The New Zealand Herald reported in 2023 that Cook had moved to Australia and was selling off his New Zealand property assets. Cook also owns one of the most expensive homes in New Zealand, a waterfront mansion in Herne Bay, which he bought in 2015 for $24m. His Waiheke bach has been on the market for sale since 2023, with Kellands taking up the listing in March this year.
The former Ponsonby Post Office has quite the history. The New Zealand Herald reported at the time of Cook's purchase that it was linked to the 1920 murder of Ponsonby postmaster Augustus Edward Braithwaite.
In recent times, the building was home to the Belgian Beer Cafe.
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