A Wānaka family is preparing to say a bittersweet goodbye to a lakefront crib, which is expected to fetch more than $7 million when it goes to tender at the end of the month.
Marjorie Cook fondly remembers eating fish and chips wrapped in old newspaper on the lawn at the house, which has been in her family for more than 60 years.
But now it is one of a dying breed as Bremner Bay’s old cribs are being sold, demolished and redeveloped into mansions in one of Wānaka’s prime real estate spots.
“It is Wānaka of old really, the late ’50s into the ’70s where people just came to Wānaka on a holiday,” Ms Cook, who previously worked for Allied Media, said.
“This stretch of road still has some of the original baches on it, but you can see what the neighbours have done in terms of development; it has already started.
“It’s going to be sad, and I don’t think I should be coming around to Bremner Bay for a long time.”
The 2814sq m property at 23 and 25 Aubrey Rd has attracted a huge amount of interest. However, real estate agent Craig Myles said none of the interested parties wanted to keep the original home.
The land was bought by Ms Cook’s grandparents, Jessie and Horrie Nelson, after they won a ballot in the late 1950s.
They spent their holidays camping at the section before building the crib.
Judy Cook (nee Nelson) inherited the property from her parents Horrie and Jessie in the 1990s.
Judy and her husband John Cook eventually moved there from Timaru in 2011.
Under their ownership, they added a third bedroom and installed double-glazing.
Ms Cook said after her father’s death last year and her mother’s earlier this year, the family had decided to sell the property.
She recalled her 50-odd years spent mostly in Wānaka as “one long, hot, golden summer”.
“While we were little babies growing up, the house was built; there are photos of us playing in the foundations,” Ms Cook said.
She and her siblings, Judy and Dave, were either swimming at the bay across the road, in a hammock reading, or out on their bikes in the hot summer evenings, while her grandfather would be making the family fish and chips in vats out the back of the house.
“Granddad would always issue us with a bottle of orange Thompsons fizzy, which isn’t made any more but was a hallmark of Dunedin life back in those days, and we would have our little fish and chips wrapped in newspapers.”
The property, which is being sold as a deceased estate, has an RV of nearly $7m, but Mr Myles said he expected it to sell for more given its location.
“It is on premium land in a location renowned for development.
“It’s got a lot of features that people are looking for.”
Wānaka property values have risen more than 50% since 2020. Earlier this year, the town’s house price record was smashed when a home in Beacon Point Rd sold for $14m — $1.5m above RV.
“I am really grateful for the opportunity to have a holiday, and come over every year of our lives, four times a year,” Ms Cook said.
“Once we leave here, we will be grateful for the memories and one day I will get brave and drive past once I am told they have finished doing what they are doing,” she said.