City Fringe Apartment Development Sales Surpass Projections

Sales of New City Fringe Apartment Development Surpass All Projections

The new apartment development, Sugartree in Auckland central on Nelson Street, has surpassed all the preselling projections of the developers with 26 contracts signed in the first three weeks. It highlights the appetite for city fringe apartment living in Auckland particularly if it incorporates the urban community concept with green outdoor spaces, boutique retail stores and vibrant cafes and restaurants.

“This is far better than we ever anticipated”, said Sugartree Project Director Darren Brown.

“We knew there would be an appetite for Sugartree with its feeling of an urban community and good sized freehold apartments but we thought that interest from buyers would take time.”

Darren Brown also said that there was a lot of interest coming from first time buyers who wanted a chance to get a foothold in the inner city property market, or those that may want a city bolthole and could see that Sugartree offered that option at a reasonable price. www.sugartree.co.nz

“Among these potential buyers are a younger group both singles and couples who have lived in apartments either here or overseas and want to be close to town but cannot afford the inner city western suburbs prices.”

The SugarTree apartments are initially priced between $295,000 and $569,000, with one or two bedroom options in stage one of the development.

Due to strong buyer demand, the developers have now released a 3 bedroom option in Stage 1 priced between $610,000 and $730,000.

It is the first time since the global financial crisis a significant new apartment development will be developed in Auckland’s City Centre. SugarTree is a $250 million, multi-storey freehold apartment complex and will commence construction in mid-2013 on an almost 2 acre site between Union and Nelson Street.

The first stage is an 11-storey, 152 apartment complex with one and two bedroom apartments plus eight live/work units and seven ground floor commercial units with mezzanine floors and two levels of underground parking. All resource consents for Stage 1 have been obtained and completion of this stage is scheduled for the end of 2014.

Stages two and three will be completed 18 months later. When all three stages are complete there will be a total of 500 one, two and three bedroom apartments.

SugarTree is a new concept in apartment living for inner city Auckland. The complex will incorporate landscaped community spaces including water features, sculptures and courtyards creating an urban oasis on the edge of the city centre. In the third stage of the development there will be a rooftop garden for residents with spectacular views over the harbor.

This development will be enhanced by vibrant commercial spaces including boutique bars, cafes, restaurants and delis creating a unique community with the best of both worlds – green outdoor spaces combined with the convenience of city central living

There is a shortage of housing in Auckland with estimates from 11,000 to 20,000 over the next three years. Current activity levels will provide less than half this volume.

SugarTree is in keeping with the focus of the Auckland Council’s 30 year Auckland Plan to create more inner city living communities with strong urban design outcomes

This apartment complex will be a key catalyst for transforming this area of the city and will reinvigorate new apartment and other development in downtown Auckland.

The developer’s focus is on owner-occupier buyers and they have set out to create well-sized, quality spaces for inner city living.

The commercial units available on the ground floor of all the buildings will house quality bars, restaurants, cafes, delicatessens and other hospitality and food businesses that will provide sophisticated services and infrastructure to the apartment owners and the area in general.

Auckland Mayor Len Brown is encouraged by the new development, and commented when the development was launched: “Housing choice is an important element in Auckland becoming the world’s most liveable city as we plan for an extra million Aucklanders arriving over the next three decades.”

“The creation of a quality, compact city which protects our natural and built environment while catering for that population growth is a key part of the Auckland Plan, and any development that embraces that should be welcomed.”

ENDS

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