St Marys Bay $50m apartment project sells six of eight luxury units for $10m+ each
Six of eight new under-development luxury apartments have sold in one of Auckland’s wealthiest suburbs, fetching an average $10 million-plus each.
Despite the tough apartment market and the long-running housing downturn, developer Michael Dallimore [Ngāti Kahungungu] of Vanguard & Co has already taken deposits on six units.
Pene Milne of Sotheby’s Realty is marketing the remaining two in the $50m+ project rising on the site of the former home of the late All Blacks great Andy Haden in St Marys Bay.
“We sold six by 2022, but we had a protracted resource consent process. It took more than six months longer than anticipated. We applied in June 2021 and didn’t get it approved until May 2022,” Dallimore said.
Even though the project mainly complied with the Auckland Unitary Plan, a number of neighbours opposed it, he said.
“That caused some of the delay, but the other delay, which was the primary one, was the Wallace case, a High Court decision in 2021 which held up consenting on higher-density projects.”
That was over townhouses in Ventnor Rd, Remuera, in a development by Kurt Gibbons.
“There’s demand for this product,” Dallimore said of St Marys Bay.
“The sales were very strong in 2022. We pulled the last two off the market when it softened towards the end of that year. We had enough sales with the six out of eight to get started with construction.
“You’re talking a very small segment of the market. We don’t have smaller units.”
Only two apartments are on each floor. None have stairs within them.
One lift will get residents from the ground-floor garage basement to their homes.
The site is 1890sq m, down a 6m-wide right-of-way.
Dallimore said his company bought the property from Haden’s family.
“He lived there in a large, rambling villa for 40 years,” Dallimore said.
The smallest unit in the new project is 240sq m and the other seven are all 258sq m.
An average standalone New Zealand house was 110sq m in 2019 so the places are very large especially by apartment standards.
Kiwibank loaned money for the project, Dallimore said.
GN Construction is building the five-level development with a basement on the ground floor at 87 Shelly Beach Rd.
The application of the Thermosash-designed and manufactured double-glazed glass curtain wall is expected to be finished next month, Dallimore said, with glazing well up the building already, topped by a Smith’s tower crane.
Italian travertine is being used inside and plants are planned to cascade from 4.2m-wide exterior boxes.
Some appliances are Fisher & Paykel but most are Sub-Zero and Wolf.
The full structure is up, rising 16m from ground level.
The St Marys Bay development has apartments with three or four bedrooms each, on the steep ridge above the motorway.
Ground-floor units have external private terraces. Penthouse units have an entire floor of their own on the outdoor roof terrace above their homes.
All units have views towards the Auckland Harbour Bridge, Rangitoto, the city’s CBD and west as well.
Monk Mackenzie designed the project with winter gardens or private terraces to the outdoors.
Vanguard budgeted $50m for the build, meant to start in 2022 but it did not start till 2024 due to consenting delays.
“We expect to finish in the final quarter of this year,” Dallimore said.
Although the single-level home at 85 and 85a Shelly Beach Rd stands in front of the apartments, between that and the sea, protection is understood to be in place for new residents.
Dallimore said each new apartment had a 2.8m stud height, butler’s kitchens and large living areas with gas fireplaces.
Each unit has parking for three to four vehicles in a lockable garage.
Dallimore’s wife, Ella Dallimore, is an interior architect and designer who did the interiors and exteriors of the ocean suites at the upmarket golf course Tara Iti, as well as other buildings there.
She also designed the interiors of the new St Marys Bay project.
Michael Dallimore said the apartment market needed to meet people’s needs and provide enough space, privacy and storage, while also enabling them to live close to the waterfront and CBD.
“We benefited from the unitary plan upzoning. I’m more a fan of the design-led opportunities for densities, instead of a blanket approach. If you’ve got the right site and a great design, then you should be able to benefit from additional height.”
He had considered smaller units but said this would not have met his market: “So we decided, let’s just go for it!”
People in the sector expressed surprise at the scheme, saying so many apartments remained unsold.
Vanguard was previously involved with a project at Stillwater, north of Auckland that has since sold out.
That was a joint venture with the late Adrian Burr’s Prospect Group. The project is on the Weiti River and on a tidal peninsula of 1.7ha.
Resource consent was secured for a boutique gated waterfront development of 17 lots with a private boat ramp and jetty.
“The sensitive coastal environment posed a number of consenting and design challenges which were successfully overcome by landscape architects, urban designers, Isthmus and Vanguard & Co,” the summary on Vanguard’s website says.
Dallimore was born in Britain and lived in Auckland in his younger years. He has a Bachelor of Commerce and a Master of Business from the University of Otago.
He spent nearly 20 years in the property development sector. He has worked here and in the United Kingdom.
In 12 years in London, Dallimore worked primarily with Savills in Mayfair as a consultant to developers.
At Savills, he was the director of a specialist London residential development team, offering planning analysis, loan security valuations and consultancy advice.
This was for house builders, commercial property developers, funds, community housing providers, local authorities and banks.
He returned to New Zealand a decade ago and worked for a time on multi-unit developments for Kāinga Ora.
He has also established Van Dev Projects, offering consultancy advice to developers.
87 Shelly Beach Rd, St Marys Bay
Anne Gibson has been the Herald‘s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.