There can’t be too many property developers who have a passion for saving whales.
But Kiwi property developer Rob Holden doesn’t seem to make any secret of his links to the controversial environmental organisation Sea Shepherd. His Swedish wife, Anna Varn – who studied at Auckland University – is listed as a director of the organisation, which split off from Greenpeace in the late 1970s, and his children also seem to support the cause.
Holden is listed as an executive producer of the 2011 Sea Shepherd documentary Confessions of an Eco-Terrorist, and the couple’s daughter helped to promote the film internationally.
It’s a fascinating sideline for someone who has kept a relatively low profile in this country, despite building one of Australasia’s biggest privately owned property empires.
According to a Bloomberg profile, Holden graduated with a BA from Victoria University in 1989 and then worked extensively in commercial real estate in New Zealand.
Described by his website designer as a “proud Hawke’s Bay boy,” Holden founded his own company, the Conrad Properties Group, in 1994. Since then, the group has developed thousands of residential and commercial units worth billions of dollars and boasts offices in Auckland, Sydney, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bermuda and Ho Chi Minh City.
However, Auckland appears to have been its main focus. Over the past 15 years, Conrad has developed more than 4000 apartments in the city, mostly in the CBD, including the giant 512-unit Zest on Nelson St and the 416-title Volt in Upper Queen St.
Its current development portfolio provides an interesting insight into the long and short game being played in the Auckland market. Bought for $17.5m in 2018, an eight-level office tower in Upper Queen St has been rapidly converted into the Queens Park Residences, which will produce around $100m in gross sales based on the 111 apartments selling for an average of almost $900,000.
By contrast, a 15-storey tower bought for $4.4m in 2012 has taken six years to become The Vincent, with 181 units raising close to $140m at an average sales price of just over $800,000.
Unlike many property developers, Conrad apparently has little need for bank lending, which is hardly surprising given that most projects like The Vincent have been pre-sold – in some cases up to 100%.
In addition to property development, it also has a small but significant investment portfolio valued at $70m. This includes a recently acquired 12-storey commercial office block in Fanshawe St, which cost $50m, and a four-storey block in Federal St, which cost $9.5m in 2012 but is now valued at $25m.
Although Holden is said to have personally supervised all the company’s processes from concept to completion, he now lives overseas and is no longer mentioned on Conrad’s website. However, he remains a New Zealand citizen.
According to Companies Office records, he and his wife live in a six-bedroom bungalow in Singapore’s wealthy inner-city suburb of Tanglin, although they recently applied for permission to buy a $6m property in Bermuda. The 400sq m “retreat” is in the exclusive Bellevue estate, which overlooks the ocean on Bermuda’s south shore. It includes almost half a hectare of land and has its own putting green.
In New Zealand, the day-to-day running of the Conrad group has been entrusted to Jamie Hutchens and Ben Dearlove, who have a wealth of construction and property experience.
The company considers itself to be “a leader in the industry of environmental awareness” and donates to various non-profit marine conservation groups. This includes the US-based Blue Seals, which was founded as a rapid response strike team to combat the illegal slaughter of dolphins and other species. It also supports the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust, the Keystone Trust, The Retreat and the Liberty Project, among others.