Pet-friendly and sea view residences still on offer

A pair of three-bedroom apartments – one with 59 square metres of courtyard suitable for providing plenty of outdoor space for cats and dogs, and the other with sea views of Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour – are among the last remaining six units for sale at a soon-to-be-completed residential complex.

The Outlook apartment complex in Kepa Road, Mission Bay, is a five-storey 43-unit development due for completion at the start of September– with the first residents moving in shortly after. With the majority of units already sold, just a small selection of one, two, and three-bedroom residences remain available.

Outlook is believed to be the first substantial apartment complex in Auckland’s Eastern Bays to be completed under the new guidelines of the Auckland Unitary Plan which became operative in 2016. Previously, under former Auckland Council guidelines, only a trio of two-storey houses could have been built on Outlook’s elevated Kepa Road site close to the Eastridge shopping centre which is currently being modernised.

The one-bedroom units remaining for sale at Outlook offer 50 square metres of living space, while the two-bedroom units at Outlook are 100 square metres in size and the three-bedroom Outlook units are 129 square metres. One of the two-bedroom units for sale at Outlook includes 117 square metres of private courtyard garden, while one of the three-bedroom units still on the market has sea views of the Waitemata.

The majority of one-bedroom units within Outlook have been snapped up by locals from the Eastern Bays, while the demographic profile of two-bedroom is more made up of ‘empty-nesters’ in their 60s. The most ‘senior’ buyers of an Outlook dwelling have been a couple aged in their 80s.

Outlook’s three north-facing blocks have been built around a central landscaped garden and lawn area with an adjoining BBQ pavilion where residents can host al-fresco functions for their friends and guests.

Other innovative amenities which will greet incoming new owners at Outlook include a dedicated and covered ‘pick up and drop off’ area for residents utilising taxi services, a furnished lobby reception, and a fleet of custom-made shopping trolleys in the basement car parking level enabling apartment owners to easily transport their groceries from their car to their dwelling. All apartments at Outlook come with allocated car parking spaces and storage lockers.

Outlook apartments salesperson Trent Quinton from Bayleys Remuera said most of the 37 units sold at the Kepa Road complex so far had been to New Zealand resident owner/occupiers – with no sales to investors. Some 28 units at Outlook were sold off-plan ahead of construction – ranging from one-bedroom dwellings, up to just under $5 million each for two of the Penthouse suites.

He said open homes at Outlook were still attracting up to 50 groups through on Saturdays and Sundays. Additional viewings at the completed show-home unit were also being held on Wednesday evenings.

Outlook has been built on land zoned Terrace Housing and Apartment Buildings (THAB) under the Auckland Unitary Plan – with the Terrace Housing and Apartment Buildings zoning designed to: “make efficient use of land and infrastructure, increase the capacity of housing, and ensure that residents have convenient access to services, employment, education facilities, retail and entertainment opportunities, public open space and public transport.”

Outlook developer Martin Cooper said that historically, medium to high-density residential development projects in suburban Auckland had been stymied by the restrictive planning rules which were preventing growth.

“Outlook shows that under the new unitary plan, it is possible to achieve the goals of the THAB zone by working in a consultative manner with the council to design an appropriate lay out and scale right from the design and concept phase,” Mr Cooper said.

Coming on-stream in a similar timeframe to the Outlook apartments is the upgrading of close-by Eastridge mall’s hospitality hub. With The Eatery upmarket food-hall already bringing together dining outlets serving Italian, Brazilian/Korean fusion, Indian and Malaysian cuisines, further new bar-style venues are expected to be open at Eastridge in time for the summer season.

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