ON OFFER:
Being sold off the plans, four freehold three-level terrace houses remaining in a development of eight. Two or three bedrooms, some with a study, averaging 180sq m internal space plus 30sqm deck. All with outdoor living and side-by-side internal access double garages and two available incorporating ground-floor compact retail-office space.
SIZE:
180sq m + deck approx 30sqm
PRICE INDICATION:
$1.695 million.
BODY CORP:
Approx $3000 a year.
INSPECT:
Show space at 554 Great North Rd. Sat/Sun 3-4pm or Tues & Thurs 1-1.30pm.
When Grey Lynn local, developer Craig Kells, used to walk his dogs past this former car yard he'd picture creating something more attractive here.
Now he's got his wish, starting construction soon on a select development of eight terrace houses, three of which incorporate compact retail-office space fronting on to Grey Lynn village's main Great North Rd strip. Four have already sold.
One of the things which appealed to him about the site was its duality, seeing it boasts two street frontages so different in nature.
"Barrington Rd, where we've put the main entrance, is a nice quiet residential street," says Craig.
"But then you've got the commercial village at the front on Great North Rd so it is almost like having two sites in one. We're including secure pedestrian access on to Great North Rd so residents can nip straight out to the village without going around the block."
Craig is from a family involved in construction and development and has several developer relatives.
He's progressed from doing his builder's apprenticeship 30 years ago to just delivering Newton's sold-out "The Saint" apartments at 17-19 St Benedicts St, completed in April.
He was impressed with what Andrew Smith (of Paul Brown Architects) designed for The Saint so has had him design Barrington, too. Knowing the neighbourhood led Craig to opt for larger, higher-spec terrace residences over apartments.
"The prices of newly built stand-alone homes around here can be close to $3 million so I believe there's demand for decent-sized terrace houses."
Andrew says: "My preference is for fairly raw materials where possible with a bit of industrial, but what I'd call refined industrial.
"I'd describe these terrace houses as being contemporary while still being sympathetic to the neighbourhood's scale, materials and retail frontage. They provide contextual reference to the plastered brick facades, wrought-iron fences and glazed retail frontages in the neighbourhood."
Exteriors will favour raw concrete, dark cedar and battened steel screens, some adjustable for privacy. Dark-hued bricks around the interior driveway courtyard will be laid in a random pattern of glazed and unglazed to create light play.
Image 1 of 3: Development of high-spec terraced residences includes retail space and option of a residential or commercial outlook
Some terraces are narrow by design. Craig's direction that each incorporate its own side-by-side internal-access double garage allows wider living spaces above on the mid-floor.
All terrace houses will have decks and several will also have courtyards. Barrington Rd-side homes will look out towards the Waitakeres while the three on the Great North Rd side will enjoy city views of the Sky Tower.
Landscaped greenery will include green walls, planting around a communal courtyard and planter boxes. Gabion rock walls will announce the Barrington Rd main entrance.
Andrew's pleased with the continuity of design from exterior to interiors that include a concrete feature wall along each residence's stairwell. Stud heights range from living areas of 2.7m to 2.4m bedrooms.
Living areas opening to decks will have distressed engineered oak flooring and one or two heat pumps for each home.
Poggenpohl kitchens with Corian benchtops and integrated Miele appliances have been selected. The black butchers' tiles chosen for kitchens, and to accent the front retail-office strip, are reminiscent of heritage tiles seen in older neighbourhood shops.
Layouts vary from two to three bedrooms including master suites. Some also have studies and others have the work-from-home options offered by high profile Great North Rd retail-office spaces, sized about 18sq m.
Construction is scheduled to start in October and be completed in October 2016.
