The 2019 opening of the $1 billion Commercial Bay complex in downtown Auckland may be the next big thing in retail and hospitality but one of the city’s original retail gems is just a stone’s throw away.
Home to Marbecks Records and T Clark Men’s Shoes for almost 90 years, Queens Arcade was built by Fletcher Construction in the early 1900s and has long been a magnet for shoppers, with white Whangarei marble facades, ornamental bronze balustrades and a distinctive L-shape that links it to frontages on both Queen and Customs streets.
As one of only a handful of iconic buildings that remain within a few strategic blocks of Queen St, the two-storey arcade with its 2600sq m footprint has a rateable value of just over $23 million, and is part of a $46m real estate portfolio owned by Davis Properties, incorporated in 1914.
What is not so well known is that Davis Properties is controlled by Wellington’s Holden family, with the shareholding divided between parents Denys and Sue Holden and their three children Michael, Fiona and Rob.
The Davis name comes from Sue’s side of the family, who made an enormous contribution to Auckland’s early years. Sue’s father was Trevor Davis, who was a director of the firm Hancock and Company, the family firm founded by his pioneer grandfather Moss Davis in the late 19th century.
Trevor was president of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce in the 1940s but died suddenly in 1947 when Sue was just nine. The Mission Bay fountain, one of Auckland’s cherished landmarks, was a gift to the city in 1950 from Sue’s devastated grandfather, Eliot Davis, who dedicated it to the memory of his son.
Eliot’s brother, Sir Ernest Davis, was also a key figure in NZ history and, among many other things, was Mayor of Auckland in the 1930s. Browns Island (Motukorea) in the Hauraki Gulf was one of his gifts to the city.
According to the Davis Properties share register, siblings Michael and Fiona own about 12% and 11% respectively of the company, while their brother Rob only lays claim to a miniscule 0.2% stake. However, Rob has generated his own fortune through his own property development company, Conrad Properties (see separate listing).
In addition to the Davis Properties portfolio, the Holdens collectively own commercial, residential and rural properties worth more than $80m, including a $16m industrial site on Auckland’s North Shore and a share in the 1000ha Mananui Station near Ormondville – the small township in the central North Island that gained notoriety after the tragic murder of the Edwards family in 1884.