Apartment complex downsized
Apartment sizes have been cut back and more homes fitted into a Crown-led private housing development in Christchurch.
Fletcher Residential has revised plans for a delayed apartment complex on the corner of Colombo and Brougham streets in Sydenham, and received Christchurch City Council consent. The Crown will sell the land to a private company, part of the Housing Accord between the Government and the council aimed at boosting housing supply and affordability.
The revision has changed the Government’s original concept of a community with a range of household sizes including family-sized residences. Single-bedroom apartments now dominate the plan and three-bedroom terraced homes have been removed. The number of homes has also been boosted from 73 to 76.
One-bedroom apartments will measure 46 square metres, and two-bedroom homes 71sqm. Under a previous plan consented last year then abandoned, sizes had ranged from 51sqm up to 139sqm. The new sizes are within a square metre of minimum sizes allowed by the council for apartments.
The council’s 2012 Sydenham Master Plan described the property as a strategic site with potential to be a catalyst for the area’s post-quake recovery.
A Fletcher representative said they re-evaluated the plan due to ‘‘a shift in market conditions’’. Research showed the homes were too large, too expensive, did not suit the location, and ‘‘hindered our ability to find appeal amongst the market in general’’, the representative said.
The land was to be sold to Fletcher already and the homes completed this year. That is now expected to happen next year. The complex will be known as 350 Colombo. The revision has increased the number of singlebedroom units from eight to 40, and cut the number of twobedroom units from 60 to 36.
Gone also are a batch of flexiapartments where residents could work from home. The new plan includes 560sqm of ground floor retail space facing Colombo St.
In all, there will be 20 per cent less floorspace, cut back from
6160sqm to 4890sqm. Some apartments will not have outdoor utility space and be allowed clotheslines on balconies to compensate.
The Crown bought the former Sydenham School site for $4.5 million in 2015 from the council, which had bought it in 2008 from developer David Henderson. Some earthworks have been done.
The land is bordered by Colombo, Brougham, Buchan and Waverley streets and occupies most of the block. It has sat vacant since the school’s 1999 closure, changing hands six times as subsequent owners drew up, then abandoned development plans.
Pricetags have not yet been put on the Fletcher homes, of which about a fifth must meet the Government’s affordability threshold of $500,000 for existing homes and
$550,000 for new builds. Fletcher has said prices will be set to meet the market when the homes are finished.
The new plan is for six buildings, up to three storeys and 12.5 metres high, around a shared green lawn. The complex will have
59 car parks and 88 cycle spaces. A historic elm tree, understood to be near the end of its lifespan, will be removed as it is not expected to survive the construction around it. New landscaping will include trees.
The development is a sister project to the Atlas Quarter in Welles St, which is under construction on a site sold to Fletcher by the Crown. Fletcher also has the contract to build homes in the Crown-owned central city east frame.