| 25 Dunedin: St Clair Esplanade T T Richard Loader Sublime build by the sea The seaside apartments at St Clair include two hospitality outlets on the ground floor. REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT T: 03 477 5214 E: architect@bakergarden.co.nz W: www.bakergarden.co.nz Proud to be architects for the development at 246 Forbury Road We are pleased to provide structural engineering services for St Clair Esplanade TC1/TC2/TC3 Slab Design Phone: 03 489 0383 | Email: admin@whb.nz | Web: whamiltonbuilding.co.nz Your Vision, Our Processes: A Partnership in Success While the seaside apartments currently under construction on Forbury Road in Dunedin’s prime suburb of St Clair will be beautifully appointed, the appeal is really about their proximity to those amenities that make the location so special, says Rebecca Tohill, who along with her husband Grant Henderson is developing the multi-use property. “When people come to Dunedin one of the things they do is visit St Clair. There is a great surfing and swimming beach, the Hot Salt Water Pool, an awesome playground, cafes and restaurants, and some retail. Just the whole ambiance is lovely, and it’s only ten minutes into Dunedin’s CBD.” For about 25 years the Forbury Road section near the well-known Starfish Café, had lain empty, rather unloved and begging for development. Forbury Road leads on to St Clair Esplanade. Rebecca and her husband share an apartment next door to the vacant section, and when approached by the section’s owner to buy it along with an adjoining section, they saw an opportunity to take control of the direction of its development “We wanted to develop a building that would enhance the suburb and deliver something good to St Clair with a significantly better streetscape. “The development is a three-storey building that includes two hospitality outlets on the ground floor that have been bought by Katrina Toovey who will extend her own café business into one of them, with a gelato shop going into the other. There will be two two-bedroom/ two-bathroom apartments in each of the first and second floors, with internal carparking for each apartment at the rear of the building. The red brick façade chosen for the building is absolutely in keeping with St Clair’s character. That has had a lot of support from the Dunedin City Council’s Urban Design team.” The four apartments will face north-east, offering views down the beach to St Kilda, views over to the playground, and views over the city, and range from 107sq to 117sqm. Rebecca feels they will have strong appeal to retired couples looking to downsize off the St Clair hill, people with homes in Central Otago who want a seaside apartment, or North Islanders who might have children at university and want a base where they can come and visit. Price points will be in the $1.8m upwards, and Baileys Metro Real Estate have been engaged to market the apartments, which will be completed in November this year. Rebecca says that neither she nor her husband consider themselves to be property developers, though they have had the experience of building their own apartment building. “This development is being made possible because of the team that we are working with, otherwise we just wouldn’t take the risk – there are too many variables. Compliance, so much engineering, so many new rules, and everything is scaled up, making it quite challenging, and very expensive to build a property. All those rules add considerable cost that has to go back onto the developer.” Rebecca and Grant have used professionals with local expertise building on the coastline as their development partners, including Dunedin practice Baker Garden Architects. “They also designed the hotel down by the beach, as well as the apartment building we live in. W Hamilton Building are the lead contractors. We had an existing relationship with them and built considerable trust, which is so important with this kind of project.
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