Auckland commute a selling point
E-scooters are being offered with apartment sales to pave the way for Hamilton to Auckland commuters.
The Rawhiti Village development will cover almost a block in the Hamilton suburb of Frankton – a short hop from the railway station.
A new Hamilton-Auckland passenger rail service is due to start in June 2020 and CBD Developments founder Chris Dinan expects some daily commuters to buy in Rawhiti Village.
‘‘Absolutely, there would be no reason not to,’’ he said.
‘‘A lot of people can do their work on the train while they travel.
‘‘With our sales, with the ones that were buying direct, I was actually providing them an e-scooter with their purchase. Just with the new train link going in, it went hand in hand.
‘‘ You can fold them up, put them on the train, get out at Britomart, e-scooter to your work. Then back onto the train, fold ‘em up, and away you go.’’
Rawhiti Village will eventually house 75 apartments and have space for around 26 retail and commercial tenants on the ground level, Dinan said.
It’s a $40 million development over 7000sqm, on a former Forlongs site.
Two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartments will sell from $529,000 and Dinan expects a similar mix of buyers to a previous project in Rostrevor St.
‘‘We’re expecting first home buyers, young families and investors, and particularly the ones who want to downsize and have their main house at the beach and have their live and work apartment in town, where they can lock and leave for a long weekend.’’
The project will also use local materials,
‘‘It’s a really good high street and, especially with us going down there and doing what we’re doing, it’s just going to propel the area in leaps and bounds.’’ CBD Developments founder Chris Dinan
such as Hinuera stone, and local subcontractors.
It’s being driven by CBD Developments with Waikato veterinarian and commercial investor Keith Houston, who describes himself as an ‘‘investor’’ in the project.
In Dinan’s view, Frankton is poised to become part of the CBD.
‘‘It’s a really good high street and, especially with us going down there and doing what we’re doing, it’s just going to propel the area in leaps and bounds.’’
So far, seven Rawhiti Village apartments have pre-sold within weeks of marketing starting, and Dinan said most of the commercial tenants were ready to move from their current premises.
‘‘We’ve pulled down half the building and we’re looking at doing half the project, because we’ve got existing tenants down there that we’d look to relocate back into the first phase and then pull down the second stage and then start that.’’
Stage one – ‘‘a 60-metre stretch down Commerce Street’’ – is expected to be finished by March 2021 and stage two by mid2023.
By then, passenger rail will already be running between Hamilton and Auckland.
The train would run from Frankton, Hamilton to Papakura, Auckland, and passengers could then use the Auckland rail network to reach Britomart.
The full Hamilton to Britomart trip is expected to take two-and-a-half hours, and the service will start from June 2020, provided rail station upgrades along the way are complete. There will be two morning runs and two returning in the evening, for up to 150 passengers.
Government funding of $92m to build and run the service was announced in August: $79.8m of it from central government and $12.57m from local ratepayers.
And Hamilton City Council has since set its eye on a connection with South Auckland’s Puhunui Station, where an upgrade is planned to give better connection between the rail network and Auckland International Airport.