Second chance
A 100-year-old Auckland villa gets a new lease on life while also making way for a block of 35 apartments.
A 100-year-old Auckland villa standing in the way of a new housing development will be saved from demolition.
The large house sits on top of a hill overlooking Ellerslie. Its future was uncertain until developer Urban Resort decided the sixbedroom house deserved ‘‘a second chance’’ at life.
The site where the home sits is set to be transformed into an apartment block called Element.
Urban Resort managing director Jim Castiglione said rather than knocking it down, the 400-square-metre home would be made available for another family to enjoy.
Urban Resort gifted the old villa to a house removal company, which then sold it for an undisclosed sum to a family north of Auckland, he said.
Urban Resort made no money off the sale of the property.
‘‘We weren’t out to make a dollar off every brick here – that wasn’t our intention,’’ Castiglione said. ‘‘It’s more important to us to see the home removed and reused for another family.’’
The sheer size of the home and its age meant the removal would be a challenge, Castiglione said.
It will be cut into four sections and then ‘‘surgically’’ separated and transported north on four different trucks before being reattached once on its new site.
It will be done on a single day later this month.
Once the homestead is removed work will begin to erect 35 new apartments comprised of two three-level buildings at the top of Pukerangi Cres.
Work is scheduled to be completed by December.