Part of a former industrial site badly damaged in the Christchurch earthquake is being turned into a residential development that is luring investors and first-time buyers looking for new homes.
St Martin's Green is the brainchild of local developers Mark Revis and Craig Pickett, of Four Avenues Property Group, which is building 70 dwellings including two-storey, two- and three-bedroom town houses and studios.
The three-stage development is on nearly half of a 22,000sq m piece of land that was cleared in 2014 of damaged, derelict warehouses and workshops.
Christchurch City Council re-zoned the land as medium-density residential to try to regentrify the area bordered by Waltham Park, Heathcote River, the Port Hills to the south and Christchurch's central city to the north.
Pickett says a major drawcard of the architecturally designed St Martin's Green development is how close it is to the CBD compared with many other new housing developments that are about 30 minutes' drive away.
St Martin's Green is 1.5km south of the city centre and only a few minutes' walk from the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology and the recently rebuilt St Martin's New World supermarket.
The development is zoned for Cashmere High School, St Mark's School, Hillview School, Waltham Primary School and Seven Oaks School.
Village Green One, Two and Three are due to be completed by June, October and December 2016 respectively.
Image 1 of 4: The Christchurch rebuild includes this exciting development of modern townhouses
Two-bedroom townhouses, dual-key apartments, and three-bedroom townhouses are priced from $349,900, $369,900 and $439,900, which include discounts off registered valuations.
In central Christchurch, the firm is already building Leicester Executive Apartments where all 43 apartments and a cafe have sold out off the plans. The development is due to be completed in October.
Craig says the "dual-key" apartment concept, popular in Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland and Queenstown, is a good option for Christchurch where skilled people are coming to work on the city's re-build. Dual-key apartments at St Martin's Green comprise a one-bedroom apartment and a studio flat on one level and on one title with a common main entrance.
Stage One sales since early March include all 10 three-bedroom townhouses, four of eight dual-key apartments and one of eight two-bedroom townhouses.
"People like the idea of the green space. Instead of looking out at somebody else's fence, they know they will have an open, green view. They also like that the whole development is secure and five minutes' drive from the central city."
The two- and three-bedroom townhouses and dual-key apartments will face north or west and onto one of the three common village greens.
Owners can choose floor plans, furnishings and appliances to tailor their apartments to their own needs.
The two-bedroom townhouses have white walls, black gabled roofs and aluminium joinery. The three-bedroom terraced apartments have flat roofs, brick veneer, floor-to-ceiling windows and upstairs balconies and outdoor courtyards.
Dual-key apartments have large floor-to-ceiling doors opening to northfacing courtyards or balconies, with stair access to parking.
