The Earnscleugh Station homestead and 399ha of land has been sold unconditionally and subdivided, and new owners will take possession next month.
Tenders closed earlier this month and Bayleys Queenstown salesman David Gubb confirmed yesterday it had sold ‘‘slightly ahead'' of its total rateable valuation of $8.46million. Mintago Investments Ltd owned the land 3km south of Clyde,
bought as part of the Earnscleugh flats gold mine development. Mining began in 2009 and was expected to continue until 2017 but the mine closed in September last year, the owners citing depressed gold prices and the high New Zealand dollar.
The property was available as one lot or divided and had sold as separate blocks. The homestead and one of the bigger blocks of land had been sold to a Central Otago orchardist, who planned to grow apples on the property, Mr Gubb said.
The homestead, complete with ramparts, was built in the 1920s and is often referred to as the ‘‘castle'' . It was designed by Edmund Anscombe and has a Heritage New Zealand category 1 listing.
The other major block of land had been bought by a person who owned farms in Southland and Otago and wanted the property to complement his Southland dairy operation, Mr Gubb said.
Other portions of the property had been bought by neighbours, other Central Otago orchardists and a Southland farmer.
Interest in the property was high. More than 100 inquiries were received, from as far afield as Auckland and Australia, and there were ‘‘multiple'' tenders.
‘‘There was so much interest, we could've sold it all over again.''
There are six other houses on the property as well as a century-old woolshed, a 4ha organic apple orchard and deer shed and yards. About 120ha of the land was mined and rehabilitated.
The homestead property includes 87ha of the original 24,600ha Earnscleugh Station, bought in 1862 by Albert Strode and farmed by his future son-in-law.
