OneRoof's Need to Know series looks at the benefits of apartment living and what to look for when you're buying.
A new eight-level $80 million 102-unit apartment scheme is planned on an ex-workingmen's club in Onehunga, with places selling from $500,000 to $1.2m.
Andrew Lamont of developers Lamont & Co. said his company planned the new Onehunga Mall Club scheme on the site of the former Onehunga Workingmen's Club sitein the town centre.
Two years ago, the Herald featured that property as being for sale, with the club saying it was prepared to stay on as a tenant in the building, subject to negotiation between it and any new owner.
Lamont said the club wouldn't be a tenant and only apartments would be built.
The club had since merged with the RSA to form the Onehunga Club.
Andrew and brother Tim Lamont developed Fabric to the east of the town centre, between Spring St and Victoria St and converted an ex-office block into apartments in the SKHY, between Symonds St and Khyber Pass Rd at Grafton.
They plan a display suite at the site at 158 Onehunga Mall from next month.
The site is 1808sq m and one and two-bedroom apartments are planned of 50sq m to 94sq m each, excluding decks which would add a further 48sq m.
Plans for the scheme in Onehunga Mall. Photo / supplied
Building near a transport hub was important, Lamont said.
"The train station is certainly a key to be able to have that just 30 minutes into the Britomart. The other game-changer is the Waterview Connection," Andrew Lamont said.
"People can drive from the city to here in about 20 minutes," he said.
All apartments are planned to be air conditioned via heat pumps. Driving access is off Municipal Pl.
The scheme will have one bicycle park for every apartment, additional storage lockers and 81 car parks on the ground floor and level one.
Onehunga Mall. Photo / Natalie Slade
Around 320sq m of retail is also planned for ground level facing the mall which Lamont said was likely to be a cafe-style of operation.
Ashton Mitchell designed the building and the Lamont brothers said the design of their plans acknowledged the site's former use as a community club. The same architects also designed Fabric.
Kalmar Construction has won the building contract.
Auckland Council is yet to grant consent for the scheme, Lamont said.
The resource consent application was yet to be lodged "but we've had two pre-application meetings with the council", Lamont said.
The scheme complied with the Unitary Plan and he doesn't expect it to be notified.
The Lamonts will be seeking 10 per cent deposits, to be lodged in a trust account of the developers' lawyers Thompson Blackie Biddles of the PwC Tower.
Completion of the project is expected at the end of 2023.
Apartment development in Auckland is booming right now, with thousands of new places being built.
Hayley Fitchett, who heads master planning and placemaking for government housing organisation Kainga Ora, told the Herald's OneRoof that in the next 10 years the organisation would be building 25,000 new affordable homes.
Many of those will be townhouses and apartments, replacing 5000 state houses with 11,000 public housing homes, and the rest for private buyers, including KiwiBuild.
Some of these new homes will be in up to three level walk-up apartments, while others will be in townhouses.
Westpac said buying an apartment or townhouse off the plans before construction has started can seem like an attractive opportunity.
But there are risks. An off-the-plan buyer signs an agreement for sale and purchase, which typically favours the developer, Westpac said, citing NZ Law.
"Most agreements contain clauses which mean the developer cannot be held liable for failing to complete your property, and don't allow you any way out of the agreement.
"Some developers seek to impose cost escalation clauses in their agreements so they can pass on construction cost increases," NZ Law says.
Depending on whether the housing market rises or falls during the time of construction, buyers could make a loss if it falls or a profit if it rises.
