Apartment development all go
Homes in the rich-lister Norman family’s $200 million upmarket apartment and Farmers store development in Tauranga will likely start selling from mid-next year. It’s the largest development in the revitalisation of Tauranga’s CBD and expected to bring several hundred residents to the centre of town.
Anne and David Norman, owners of Farmers, Whitcoulls and Pascoes The Jewellers and other retail businesses, are big players in the retail world as well as property developers.
The Farmers Tauranga Development includes a 6000 square metre Farmers store and 2000sqm for other retailers, as well as 120 homes comprising 97 apartments, including four penthouses and 23 luxury townhouses, plus 322 car parks.
While many developers are reliant on pre-sales for financing, the developer Elizabeth Properties,
part of the James Pascoe Group of companies, owned by the Normans, is not selling off the plans and prefers to sell when the apartments are developed. ‘‘We believe the true value of the property will be once a purchaser can come in and see the development and see the properties,’’ project manager, Brett Nicholls said.
The apartments were ‘‘not cookie cutter’’ and offered different designs. All had decks ranging from 30sqm to 150sqm for the penthouses. The apartment towers were 12 levels high. Buyers would not be allowed to rent the units short term or operate Airbnb there. Those restrictions could be incorporated in the titles, Nicholls said.
He declined to give a price range for the apartments and townhouses. They were perhaps suited to amore mature clientele who had been successful in life and would like to live where there were high levels of amenities and a low level of maintenance, he said.
‘‘We’ve designed these so people live in them permanently. There’s no Airbnb and no short-term letting. We want these people to enjoy their homes, know their neighbours and form a community in the sky.’’
‘‘We’re looking like we’ll open the retail, and then we’ll have a number of show units for viewing. We are likely to start selling from then, which is likely to be mid next year.’’
The development, costing $200m, is two-thirds of the way through, and scheduled for completion late next year. The company had had a lot of inquiries from locals as well as prospective buyers in Auckland, Hamilton and some from overseas, Nicholls said.
Two other James Pascoe Group retail businesses – a Whitcoulls book store and a Stevens homewares store – are taking space in the development. Subway will also take space and the developer is talking to other food and beverage businesses.
Asked if the developer was not selling off the plans because prices might be higher in a year’s time, Nicholls said it was a risk everyone took on deciding when to sell. The company believed the best way to provide a great product was to not sell it until it was finished.
The company has billed the Tauranga development as New Zealand’s largest mixed-used development with residential, retail, and hospitality premises. Nicholls said these types of development were extremely common overseas but not in New Zealand.
Two of the Pascoe group’s latest commercial projects were the development of the Silverdale Mall, on the Hibiscus Coast north of Auckland, which the company owns, and the extension of the company’s distribution centre in East Tamaki by 45,000 square metres.