A UNIQUE 14-storey folly in the New Forest could be sold next week after the price was reduced by almost £2 million.
The 220ft Sway Tower, also known as Peterson’s Folly, was originally put up for sale at £3.5 million but has now dropped in price to £1.6 million.
Wayne Norcliffe, the valuer director on behalf of Castle Surveyors Limited, claimed the dramatic price drop was due to the original price being “too optimistic”.
He said: “The drop is based on the fact that the £3.5m was optimistic as to what [the owner] was going to get.“Bidding starts next week and there are already five people interested in it.”
He added that the building is to be sold in a new way that he described as “eBay for properties”.
Bidding for the building will start next week and Mr Norcliffe said the building “could still potentially sell for £3.5 million”.
The tower is being sold by Totally Moving where potential buyers can bid for properties.
Sway Tower has been the home of Paul Atlas and his family for the past 46 years.
Mr Atlas and his wife, Julie, want to sell up so they can downsize to a smaller property for their retirement years.
Each of the tower’s 14 storeys are reached via an enclosed spiral staircase attached to the outside of the tower.
The property even benefits from a ‘passive’ rental income of around £35,000 a year from two mobile operators and the emergency services, which use three of the rooms.
It was badly damaged in the Great Storm of 1987 but remedial work to repair the building was undertaken, with grants from English Heritage, New Forest District Council, and Hampshire County Council.
In the early 1990s, Mr Atlas converted the tower into living accommodation and operated the property as a hotel and a small restaurant.
Mr Atlas closed the hotel in 1995 and he and Julie and their two children moved into the tower.
Sway Tower was the first building in Britain to be made of non-reinforced concrete and is also the tallest structure in the world to hold that distinction.
Landowner Andrew Peterson built the original structure in the early 1880s after returning from India and drawing up plans to create a centrepiece for his Hampshire estate.
The retired judge was determined to prove concrete’s versatility as a building material and was also anxious to provide work for unemployed locals.
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