The Silos are on the market for the first time as individual unit titled apartments, and potential buyers can have their pick of one of three stunning apartments – The Grand, Waters Edge or the Wharf Pad.
Owners Grant and Denise Lumsden have done the groundwork with Waikato District Council to separate the five apartments into individual titles, opening up options for lovers of the unique structure and the high-end dwellings within its monolithic concrete walls.
The couple have been operating The Silos as holiday accommodation and are ready to make more time for themselves. They’re keeping two apartments that they will continue to manage.
“The reason we’re selling is not because we need to, it’s that we’re actually trying to step back and if the offer was right, we would sell the whole complex,” Denise says. “There might be someone who falls in love with the complex like we did.”
That ‘love at first sight’ moment for The Silos happened for Grant and Denise four years ago, and as well as being a great business investment – the apartments book out quickly – the couple have enjoyed staying in the various apartments.
“We came to the wharf for fish and chips and the real estate agent who was selling at that time happened to be in town. There was no one in the apartments at the time, which is an absolute rarity. The agent showed us The Grand and the hairs on the back of my arms stood up,” Denise says.
“We definitely had an – oh, wow moment,” Grant adds.
The Grand is the largest of the five apartments featuring a New York loft style with a five-metre-high ceiling, mezzanine floor, large picture windows and two decks which provide spectacular harbour views.
Situated on a busy working wharf, food and retail precinct, the apartments are a restful, retreat-like haven while still having front row seats to the action of the area.
“It’s very soundproof and that’s why a lot of guests like this – it can be bustling outside but so quiet inside,” Denise says.
The comments in their guest book are testimony to how well-loved the apartments are – with one world traveller putting them in his top 10 of places to stay
While the apartments have been mainly used as holiday accommodation for the past few years, they have had a number long-term tenants call them home.
Former owners Rob Galloway and Marie de Jong lived in The Grand and another downstairs apartment for many years before they sold to Grant and Denise.
Sitting prominently at the Raglan Wharf, The Silos have long fascinated locals and visitors alike.
The wharf was enlarged in the mid-1960s for construction of the larger Golden Bay Cement silo and a smaller silo was built in 1972. The cement was used for the construction of Huntly power station and the Kaimai tunnel. Back in the early 1970s, cement made up the bulk of the harbour’s trade.
It’s more than 30-years since Golden Bay shipped cement to Raglan but the solid concrete walls in each apartment are a permanent reminder of The Silos past.
“These are the only converted concrete silos in the whole of New Zealand,” Grant says. “They are truly unique.”
by Janine Jackson
