Pandemic lockdowns have delayed plans for a 550-residence development.
Ngāti Whātua is marketing the remaining seven of its first 13 new North Shore homes on Rutherford St off Eversleigh Rd but its chief revealed delays in finishing and bringing in buyers during alert levels 3 and 4.
"These past two months have presented challenging times throughout the country. We couldn't take people through and building work stopped," said general manager Neil Donnelly of the project, now resumed under alert level 2.
Inside one of the new homes. Photo /supplied
The Real Estate Institute said around $3.6 billion of properties usually changed hands between late March and late April - a time when the alert level 4 lockdown was in full swing and when real estate agents were not classified as essential workers.
Before the lockdowns, Ngāti Whātua had sold six of those 13 places between Devonport and Takapuna where the first residents are due to shift into from July. The top price so far was $1.4m for a three-bedroom place "which has a really good waterfront outlook and a large backyard, bigger than the rest of them."
Harcourts Cooper & Co have exclusive sole agency on the seven places, Donnelly said.
Oneoneroa was launched late last year, the architecturally designed terraced places selling from $955,000 and $1.5m. Two, three and four-bedroom places are up.
First 13 of the 350 homes. Photo / supplied
"With New Zealand moving into lower Covid-19 alert levels and restrictions easing to allow property viewings, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei Properties is gearing up to continue the sale of homes and welcome residents to Oneoneroa," the business said today.
"All new homeowners in the initial stage get a free electric bike as a koha from the developer. As a nod to the development's name, the bikes will be called 'O-bikes," Ngāti Whātua said today. Initially, the bikes were only for the first three buyers "but we extended it to all 13 because we thought it was a successful and relevant thing for that development".
"The aim is to build sustainable communities. Kaitiakitanga is about taking leadership and providing O-bikes is just one way we are putting it in to action. With safe cycle paths close by, Oneoneroa residents can use their O-bikes as an alternative for commuting or even short trips to enjoy local amenities in the wider Devonport-Takapuna area," Donnelly said.
Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei Properties is part of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei Whai Rawa, the commercial arm of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei.
Local resident Bruce Tubb has been lobbying for a waterfront walkway in front of the hundreds of planned new houses.
Free electric bike with a new home at Belmont. Photo / supplied
Donnelly said today: "It's a great idea and something we're pursuing as part of our master plan. There's already an esplanade reserve there."
Tubb says an esplanade reserve from the western end of Jutland Rd around the coast to the northern end of Francis St might need the clearance of some vegetation.
"But this could then be linked to the proposed $1.6m walkway/cycleway from Francis St to Esmonde Rd. If the illegal fences were removed from the esplanade reserve on the two properties, this could provide a continuous walkway and cycleway from Landsdowne Rd to Esmonde Rd and would be so welcomed by residents," Tubb says.
