Simplicity Living buys Kāinga Ora Northcote site to build $65m nine-level build-to-rent apartments
Plans for the red-brick, nine-level build-to-rent apartment block by Simplicity Living on Lake Rd near the Northcote town centre in Auckland. Photo / Simplicity Living
State housing agency Kāinga Ora has sold a Northcote site to developer Simplicity Living, which plans a $65 million, nine-level rental housing block.
Shane Brealey, Simplicity managing director, said 93 build-to-rent apartments were planned for the Lake Rd land near the town centre.
Simplicity paid the state agency $5.5m for the site at 135 Lake Rd, Brealey said.
“The site was for sale for three years. No one could make it work in this market. Fletcher Living tried and even went through getting a resource consent before walking away,” he said.
But Simplicity had seen the value in the site, adjacent to the town centre.
Views from the upper levels of the new apartments will be wide.
Construction is to begin in November, with the building expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2027.
State house sell-up
Kāinga Ora is selling up to 900 state homes nationally annually.
Housing Minister Chris Bishop said priority was being given to selling homes in the most sought-after locations.
A Herald analysis has identified 841 of Auckland’s most valuable state homes, worth a combined $1.7 billion, which might be considered for sale as part of a sweeping Government sell-off.
Northcote development
The Simplicity development is on the same road where another project is nearing completion.
The 183-unit Elevation container apartments are being developed by TLC Modular on the intersection of Lake Rd and Fraser Ave on land also bought from Kāinga Ora.
The container apartments have Vietnamese units which are imported and assembled by TLC.
The project is at least a year behind schedule but is expected to be completed by December.
Simplicity said today that by the end of this year, it would have 982 apartments under construction in suburban Auckland.
The business is wholly owned by funds managed by Simplicity NZ, which is a default KiwiSaver and investment funds manager.
Brealey has developed in Northcote previously with his former business.
His NZ Living built 129 units in nine buildings on a 1ha block surrounded by four streets nearby.
That project was called Greenslade, after one of the streets.
Simplicity Living is also building 264 apartments in Morningside and has a 297-unit scheme on the highway near Panmure called Te Reiputa.
Te Reiputa (whale tooth neck ornament) is at 80 Mt Wellington Highway and is a 12-level, $225m project. Work started last March on the project, designed by Brewer Davidson Architects.
The profit margin is to be $71m before interest, put at about $16m, giving total net profit of about $55m.
Te Reiputa units would be about 15% larger than average with full-sized kitchens and 2.7m stud heights instead of the usual 2.4m.
One-bedroom units are planned to be rented for $625/week and two bedrooms for $675/week.
That is much cheaper than Resido, NZX-listed Kiwi Property Group’s new build-to-rent three-tower apartment scheme beside Sylvia Park.
Units at Resido start at $697/week, two-bedroom, two-bathroom 90sq m places are $921/week, while the same number of bedrooms and bathrooms in a 76-80sq m place is $889/week.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald‘s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.