Westwood Group Holdings Limited chairman Tony Butson. PHOTO: ARCHIVE Westwood Group, fronted by Tony Butson and Johnny Stevenson, has bought Ponsonby Central, off Andy Davies, who developed it in 2012, for $75million. "It’s a key asset for Auckland, we’re lucky to get it," Stevenson says.
With 41 tenancies including more than 20 eateries, some retail, offices, 83 carparks, a luxury penthouse apartment and a cinema, it’s about twice the size of Queenstown’s Steamer Wharf, which Westwood also owns, which has 13 food and beverage tenancies. Butson says there are "absolutely" synergies between both precincts. "We’ve had 20 years’ plus experience at Steamer Wharf, converting that into food and beverage [from retail], and we think we can offer the same to Ponsonby Central.
"We’re very happy to play our part in owning it, and see if we can add some value as well." Butson says it was on the market for some time. "It took a while for it to come to our price, so the economy, interest rates, everything sort of played into our hands, really, as time went on.
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