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Work has started on a $30 million 119-unit apartment tower in Auckland's Hobson St.
Korean developer Dae Ju is building the 12-level Fiore on Hobson apartment tower near the Cook St intersection.
Real estate agent Gary Hendrick of Re/Max Metro City said a 58sq m one-bedroom unit cost $364,000 and included a carpark.
Two-bedroom units on level 10 with 82sq m, a balcony and a carpark were $539,000. Carparks were being sold for about $65,000 each, he said.
About half the units in the block were pre-sold, he said. Some buyers were in Tahiti and New Caledonia and regarded New Zealand as a haven, Hendrick said.
Builder Canam Construction won the contract to put up the tower and has started foundation work.
But Dae Ju's proposals for the area angered heritage architect Allan Matson, who has fought to prevent demolition of the Canvas City building beside the apartment site.
A demolition proposal for the building was incomplete and did not properly assess any potential loss of heritage, he said.
"When consent was sought to demolish the historic terrace of Edwardian shops on the site, Dae Ju ignored its duty to provide a heritage assessment, and the Auckland City Council did nothing about it," he said.
"When a request was then lodged under the Resource Management Act to have the building scheduled, the council ignored that too and the result is all too predictable - yet another heritage building lost."
"The demolished building on Dae Ju's site was built by one of Auckland's early philanthropists, Henry Partridge in 1908," he said.
Dae Ju has also applied to build the 67-level $450 million Elliott Tower on the former Royal International Hotel site in Victoria St.
