APARTMENT LIVING
Central location has two car parks and is a short walk to Britomart, writes Donna McIntyre
There are a lot of aspects Jenny Son loves about her corner apartment at Marina Park in Fanshawe Park — the central location, the layout, the views and the sunlight. But the two things she has most appreciated are being able to walk to work and having two car parks. “With the price of petrol, that has gone up in the time I have been living here. I spend about only $20 on petrol a week living here.
“I have the two car parks; they’re tandem, so that’s good if you have visitors. That’s a great asset with the cost of parking in the inner city being around $30 a day.”
Jenny bought the apartment about three years ago and has been living here with her teenage daughter.
“I love the location. It takes me only ten minutes to walk to work. Victoria Park and the New World Supermarket are close, as is Les Mills. And you have all the restaurants on the Viaduct.
“I am close to everything, the motorways north and west, to Ponsonby, I can drive there in five minutes. I go to yoga there at Eastwest Yoga every Sunday and afterwards I go to Ponsonby Central and do my organic grocery shop. It’s so handy.”
Her freehold apartment is on the top level of the building and has the living areas as you come in with the modern kitchen that Jenny added during renovations which included new carpet and painting. The bedrooms are on the corner and the bathroom has a bath with overhead shower, plus toilet.
Being on the corner means she has windows on two sides, plus there is a balcony off the kitchen, large enough, says Jenny for a small table and chair.
“And it is great to be able to get fresh air flow.”
A heat pump keeps the apartment warm in winter and airconditioned in summer.
“And I get the morning sun and that continues until around five in the afternoon.”
Jenny says the other residents are friendly and the ratio of owner- occupiers to tenants is changing as more people buy and renovate the apartments.
“There are professionals who work in the city, a few families and some apartments are also owned by investors who rent them out through Airbnb. And the apartment is quiet inside as there are only four apartments off this corridor.”
Her views are of the city and Victoria Park and she can see the Sky Tower.
She says the body corp is a great bunch of people, and she has been active on the committee helping oversee maintenance such as the repainting and getting the carpet replaced in the common stairwell. About five years or so ago some remedial work was done to address water tightness and this has been signed off with CCC issued.