NEW KID ON THE BLOCK

The phone call that landed a first-home buyer an apartment that featured on The Block NZ. CATHERINE SMITH reports

Apartment 2

516 New North Road

3 2 1

An apartment that featured on the last season of The Block NZ is back on the market for sale.

The three-bedroom groundfloor home – one of five in a converted fire station in Auckland’s Kingsland – is to be auctioned at the end of the month, two years after it made its debut on the reality TV show.

The owner, Lexi Jones, told OneRoof that her mother, former Block producer Julie Christie, made an offer to buy the apartment after seeing it pass in at auction during the show’s tense finale in 2019.

The apartment, renovated by contestants Stacy Heyman and Adam Middleton, failed to meet its reserve of $1.48 million on the night.

Jones said she had been looking for a first home for more than a year, and her mother thought The Block apartment would be perfect for her.

“It was all a bit of a whirlwind really. Mum called in after it was passed in at auction and made an offer, then she called me. We got it for $1.48m,” she said.

“We’d put in offers for others, but mum saw this as a great opportunity. I was only 23 at the time. We wanted an apartment that felt safe.”

Jones, who is now selling up to find a house with a big yard for her dog, said she has loved living in the apartment.

“Stacy and Adam won so many of the room reveals, and it’s very inspiring. It’s got so many things you’d never think of. When I have people over, they just go, ‘It’s so beautiful’.”

Bayleys listing agent Jono King said of the apartment: “It is the biggest (over 170sqm) and it has the best access from ground level.

“It was all a bit of a whirlwind really. Mum called in after it was passed in at auction and made an offer, then she called me. We got it for $1.48m.”

“Apartments of this size are very rare in the greater Ponsonby area, and you seldom find character places converted into something so modern. It feels like a house when you’re inside.”

Jones’ apartment is the second one from The Block NZ: Firehouse season to hit the market. The penthouse, the work of contestants Sophia and Mikaere, was back on the market just six months after the show ended.

The two-bedroom apartment eventually sold in October 2020 for $1.515m, below the $1.6m the vendor paid for it.

Sale: Auction, July 28

Contact: Jono King, Bayleys, 027 351 4020