$11 million hillside subdivision launched after mortgagee land sale

Friday, 19 June 2026

Pictured on the slopes of the Bowenvale Estates subdivision are, from left, Dan Tremewan, left, with Bayleys real estate agent Matthew Heazlewood, and Maru Rout, Zoey Tomlinson-Rout and Richard Jack from Ohinetahi Ltd.

New subdivision plans are underway for a block of Port Hills land in Christchurch after the collapse of developer Andrew Bendemski’s property business.

The Bowenvale Valley land has been bought by newly formed Christchurch development company Ōhinetahi Ltd in a mortgagee sale.

The company has launched a new development, Bowenvale Estates.

The consented subdivision will have 32 sections, two reserve areas, and a bridge to be built across the Bowenvale Stream to provide access to the land.

Ōhinetahi is selling sections in stage one at prices ranging from the high $400,000s to the high $700,000s, with house and land packages starting at $1.1 million.

The new subdivision will be built at the end of Bowenvale Ave, Cashmere.

It will be the third project aimed at developing the land in recent years.

Failed businessman Andrew Bendemski, was also known as Shane Beecham and was jailed for sexual violation of a teenager.

Bendemski bought the land in 2022, and his luxury Bowenvale Heights subdivision promised 35 architecturally designed homes on the 5 hectare block. It failed along with other of his developments in Christchurch, Wanaka and Auckland.

The fallout from his property business has included mortgagee sales of a luxury townhouse development site in Wanaka, an apartment project in central Christchurch another in Takapuna, Auckland, as well as the Cashmere property which was sold by Alpha Securities.

An artist's impression of a proposed new home in the now-cancelled Bowenvale Heights subdivision.

Another Christchurch subdivision project, Blue Skies in Johns Rd, was taken over by the company’s receiver.

Bendemski had eight businesses put into the hands of liquidators or receivers last year with debts exceeding $100m. They included his GCO Group of companies.

Prior to Bendemski owning the land, it was in the hands of Auckland-based Smith Developments Ltd, which also abandoned development plans for it.

Ōhinetahi is understood to have paid about half the $2.67m which Bendemski paid for the Cashmere land four years ago. The site borders the Bowenvale Reserve.

Director Richard Jack said they expect to spend another $11m preparing the land for housing.

Left to right: Dan Tremewan, Maru Rout, Zoey Tomlinson-Rout and Richard Jack at the entrance to Bowenvale Estates.

They expect to start building the bridge to the subdivision in a few weeks. Other work will include setting aside and establishing reserve areas, relocating native lizards, planting, and building rockfall protection.

“Because of the environment and where it is, we’ve spent a lot of time dealing with the ecology side of things, and that’s really key for us,” Jack said.

“It’s a natural environment and we really want that to be evident in the subdivision.

“And we really want to work in with the community around there.”

Sections have already been pre-sold to house building companies including Faye Homes.

Most are about 800m2 to 900m2.

Jack said opportunities to buy sections in Cashmere are extremely limited, and they are already seeing strong demand.

“We wouldn’t have dived into this unless we though it was going to be a goer. It’s a really cool location and we’re genuinely excited about it.”

Land titles are expected to be available to buyers by late this year or early next year.