NEW NEIGHBOURHOOD
A luxury development in Mairangi Bay will offer sea views and sophisticated living, writes Sandra Goodwin
Ahiatus enjoying Mairangi Bay’s lifestyle helped inspire a family to pool their expertise to plan a complex of architecturally designed freehold homes. Registered Master Builder Hamish McArthur and his real estate agent wife Ailsa — who have six adult children — have lived in Coatesville for 17 years. But decided to rent a home in Mairangi Bay that changed everything.
Ailsa says: “We hadn’t lived by the beach so we thought it would be a great opportunity, and we ended up being there for two-and-a-half years. It showed us what a fantastic lifestyle Mairangi Bay offered with everything you’d want in one village so close to the ocean.”
Hamish owns design and build firm The House Company which has built more than 400 homes. When the couple’s real estate savvy offspring asked their parents to join them in doing a development, Mairangi Bay seemed like a splendid location.
Hamish says: “I know from our time living there how brilliant it is to be able to walk into the village, walk to the beach or catch a bus or take a ride to Takapuna. And it’s easy to nip over to somewhere like Ponsonby from there.”
The family have bought two homes on level land
700m from Mairangi Bay Beach and a 4-minute walk from the shops on which they’ll create Mairangi Bay Luxury Villa’s five three-storey residences.
The homes, with their own lifts and sea views, have been designed by MC2 Architects to maximise sun and light with easy entertaining.
Trinity Interior Design has planned interiors, but buyers can customise decor.
The family is pooling skills in the company with Amarillo to do the development. Hamish’s company will build the homes and Ailsa is one of two Bayleys agents selling them off the plans.
One of their daughters will be the project’s civil engineer, her husband its landscaper and another daughter the development’s project manager.
Hamish says: “We envisage people buying these will have similar tastes to us, appreciating quality and wanting an upmarket lock-up-and-leave home with great indoor-outdoor flow.”
Construction will mainly be cedar with powdercoated aluminium weatherboards, plus modern white brick accents. Front louvres will offer privacy.
A turning bay will separate a block of two dwellings set back from the road from the remaining block of three homes. Buyers have the option of their floor-plan being either fourbedrooms or three-bedrooms plus a study/second living area.
Each home will have an internal-access double garage, heat pumps and its own lift. Entry-level bedrooms with en suites will allow teen or visitor separation.
Open plan living will be on the mid-levels with skylights above the kitchen area. Living will flow out through big sliding doors to partially covered decks offering views of the Hauraki Gulf. The fourth bedroom or a study/second living area and a powder room will complete this level which will have open-tread stairs to the upper level. This will house the master bedroom with walk-in wardrobe and en suite, and the final bedroom with en suite.
The couple is expecting resource consent imminently and Hamish plans to start building in spring 2019. The homes are scheduled to be completed in late 2020.