More new apartment developments appearing

We’ve talked before about how we seem to be seeing a resurgence of higher density developments being proposed as developers and their financiers start to come out of hibernation following the GFC. As a reminder, here are some of the ones we have previously talked about (some are already under construction):

City Fringe: Urba – Apartment building replacing a low rise office

New Lynn: Merchant Quarter Condominiums – 10 levels of apartments above a new car parking building and medical clinic development right next to the train station.

Manukau: M Central – The conversion of an existing office building (ex IRD) to apartments and retail

City: Sugartree – A series of apartment buildings being developed around Cook and Nelson St.

City: 132 Vincent St – Another office conversion

Grey Lynn: The Isaac – A lower rise development (four stories) that is already well under construction.

Orakei: Orakei Village – A series of town houses and retail on Orakei point above the rail station.

More and more seem to be starting to pop up which is great – although it’s worth noting most of these are high rise developments, not the low to mid rise type of intensification we are talking about the Unitary plan needing.

Another new development being proposed is being called Club Life Victoria. This development has caught my attention simply because of the market it is targeting which is a group that has not traditionally been associated with city living.

Club life is a brand new concept in living for people over fifty. It’s cool, it’s revolutionary and it’s affordable. With Club Life you get fantastic facilities to enhance a great lifestyle with a freehold unit title for your new property. Best of all, the purchase prices are very competitive when compared to other new urban living offerings in Auckland. Next best is that the on-going costs are remarkably low considering the ownership and amazing lifestyle services and facilities provided. You are always in control, and own any and all capital growth on re-sale.

Image includes required Audi parked out the front and WTF is with those balloons?

They also say this

You’re a baby boomer, empty nester who lives an interesting life, has contemporary tastes, loves to socialise, go to shows, travel and have lots of fun……or want to.

One thing you know for sure is you don’t want to stick to the traditional lifestyle offerings ……so boring!

Club Life is here to put the whole current development model the other way around. Your needs first and a well planned development to meet those needs.

The pictures below give you a flavor of the mood of what we are doing but do not show an actual Club Life.

The architecture of the inaugural club life will be shown at your presentation.

Join those who want to be part of this new baby boomer lifestyle solution.

To me it sounds like a kind of retirement village in the city but obviously the developer sees a bit of a market here which does go to show that dwelling preferences aren’t as black and white as many anti intensification types like to make out. From what I can tell the building is out on the western edge of the CBD, on the corner of Sam Wrigley St and Union St. With more and more developments happening out that way, it will hopefully become even more necessary to upgrade the current traffic sewers that are Nelson and Hobson St to provide better access to the rest of the CBD.

I wonder if we will see any other apartments targeting baby boomers starting to pop up? It would certainly be good to have apartments that appeal to a wider demographic to help improve people’s perceptions of them and in that regard this is a positive step.

Another development by the same developers is also being advertised on the city fringe in Saint Benedict St called The Saint. This is a lower rise apartment but looks pretty nice from the pictures and is a good example of the kind of dwellings that would look great in many town centres under the Unitary Plan. This is particularly interesting as I think the area will boom in the next decade or so as there will be a CRL station just around the corner.

Neither of these developments would fall into the affordable category but I think it is important to point out that not everything does. What is important is that if they are built they increase the number of dwellings in the city and help to provide a greater level of choice. They also represent a positive sign that the apartment development market is heating up and that is something incredibly important for Auckland’s future. Of course whether banks will actually start lending money on apartments in the same way they do with standalone houses is a different matter entirely.

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