| 77 Urban meets rural in Riverstone Park T T Kelly Deeks Kieran Breakwell “It’s about doing the right thing for the community and the buyers.” RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT KB Properties The new Riverstone Park at Rakaia is bringing attractive options to the local real estate market, with a unique country/urban subdivision offering larger sections and a physical link to the local community via the Rakaia Domain. Developed by KB Properties of Ashburton, Riverstone Park is already three-quarters sold with four sections still available. Developer Kieran Breakwell has intentionally held off from selling direct to housing companies in order to create a subdivision where each home is different from the last. “We were allowed by council to go down to 360sqm sections, but we’ve gone with larger sections, the smallest 862sqm and the largest 1423sqm. Small sections with lookalike homes isn’t the look I felt like the market wanted, and it isn’t the look I want in a subdivision of mine. It’s about doing the right thing for the community and the buyers.” Kieran says he has had an incredible amount of support from the people of Rakaia from the day he began developing Riverstone Park, and they tell him he has done a great job and created a great opportunity for Rakaia. “They don’t have anything like this in Rakaia, no other nice new subdivision, and the way it links into Rakaia Domain from the reserve at the end of the street is really attractive. When I’m here on site there are always people walking through, heading to or from the domain or kids walking home from school. I love seeing that on what used to be just an old paddock.” Enquiry around Riverstone Park pointed to another area of real estate demand that Kieran has decided to fulfil with the purchase of a 1ha block on the adjacent corner, where he is planning something a bit different. He discovered a group of residents already living in Rakaia, and wanting to stay there but also wanting to downsize, and live in a new modern warm home. But there weren’t many viable options. Rather than moving to Ashburton or Christchurch, KB Properties is bringing the options to Rakaia. “There is a market for low maintenance homes with smaller sections and safe communities, so I am going to create that here with a common green area in the centre and pathways where people can enjoy the outdoors right on their doorstep.” Kieran is also involved in a sizable subdivsion underway in Ashburton, with 170 sections coming to the market over the next two years. As a developer, Kieran says the Government could be doing more to ease the housing crisis and bring these needed homes to the market, “There is a market for low maintenance homes with smaller sections and safe communities.” with local and national government passing the buck and stopping developers in their tracks. “I would like to see government, councils, and developers working together to achieve the common goal which in the end is great for community’s rate payers and home owners,” he says. “If we could reduce the frustrating red tape that slows down processes and adds unnecessary costs, there could be a lot more sections and homes coming to the market and these could be more cost effective, reducing house prices and going a long way to solving New Zealand’s housing crisis.”
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