ON OFFER:
A range of freehold apartments with storage units. Most have decks, an additional study and one car park with two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments.
PRICE GUIDE:
One-bedroom from $550,000. Two-bedroom from $1.19 million. Three-bedroom from $1.38 million.
BODY CORPORATE:
(estimates) from $1096 to $2769 a year.
INSPECT:
Showroom 10am-2pm daily at 371 Khyber Pass Rd.
SCHOOL ZONES:
Newmarket School, Auckland Normal Intermediate, double Grammar.
CONTACT:
Amanda Morrison, Barfoot, 021 174 5928.
Core City managing director Hossain Reyhani's industrial design back-ground may explain his delight when pointing out the extra-functional touches of his boutique Newmarket apartment development, The James.
The retail spaces and 13 of the 26 freehold apartments sold off the plans in the first eight days of marketing the project. Buyers have included young professionals as well as people wanting to downsize from family homes.
"We want to be boutique and to concentrate on one project at a time," says Hossain, who has called New Zealand home for 30 years. He sold his design business and has focused on property development and investment for the past two decades.
Hossain has masters degrees in design and mechanical engineering and says: "My schooling and training was in Germany so I can't do anything besides quality."
His design roots have led to a hands-on focus when developing the commercial buildings his company has become known for. Now Core City is extending its activities into residential development under the guidance of architect Brent Hulena, who impressed Hossain when he drew up plans for a family property.
Hossain is happily pointing out the hidden detail in the Poggenpohl kitchen in The James showroom, housed in the building scheduled to be demolished this May to make way for the seven-floor development. Completion is scheduled for November 2016.
"Look," he says, pulling out a nifty stepladder integrated into an alcove under kitchen cabinetry, "a ladder for shorties".
Hossain says Khyber Pass is being reinvigorated by university expansion and Aucklanders' desire for centrally located living handy to transport hubs. The prime location attracted his company to buy this site about 18 months ago.
The new building's steel-reinforced concrete construction will house apartments ranging from one-bedroom to three-bedroom, most of them with sliding doors opening to balconies and all with 2.7m stud height in living areas. The top-of-the-range three-bedroom apartment spreads over two levels, with the living level leading up to bedrooms on the floor above.
Double glazing, double-layered Gib Noiseline, and insulation between residences aim to produce a quiet environment. The custom-designed Poggenpohl kitchens, ducted air conditioning, LED lighting and floor to ceiling windows feature whatever the apartment size.
371 Khyber Pass Road.
Feltex 55-ounce carpet lines living areas, bedrooms and studies -- which are included in many apartments and could be used as another bedroom, given they have wardrobing.
The kitchens have Italian Lapitec benchtops (a hardy ceramic composition fired at high temperatures) and Scholtes oven, hob, integrated dishwasher and fridge-freezer. Laundry cupboards conceal Miele washing machines and condenser dryers. Tiles are used on balconies, floor to ceiling in bathrooms and in the kitchens' timber-look flooring.
Every apartment gets its own secure walk-in storage unit ranging from 5sq m to 16sq m on a mezzanine floor above ground level. The two- and three-bedroom apartments come with a car park. These are supplemented by bicycle stands and scooter parking in a dedicated room. The building's lift has been selected for its fast responsiveness.
The double-grammar-zoned address is across the road from the University of Auckland's Newmarket campus and walking distance to the university's Grafton medical campus and Auckland, Mercy, and Starship Hospitals. It's less than three minutes' walk to the Grafton train station and on-ramps to three motorways are within three minutes' drive.
The name The James jumped to the top of Core City's shortlist for a strong and simple building moniker when Hossain's California-based daughter named his new grandchild Winter James.
