New approach to urban living

Press, 2 May 1984, Page 11

New approach to urban living

In Residence

Patricia Herbert

PROPERTY REPORTER

This mixed, office-resi-dential development, now under construction at the corner of Montreal and Conference Streets, may point the way to the future. It is the first of its kind to be built in Christchurch and represents a happy compromise between the trend toward inner-city living and the needs of the commercial heartland. The low-slung, two-storey, L-shaped structure — concrete block on the ground floor and stained timber above — was designed by architect, Mr David Sheppard. The wing facing Montreal Street, a busy arterial, has four 110 sq m office suites. The other comprises five town houses and faces Conference Street, where the traffic flow is slight. The land is zoned residen-

tial 58, one of two pockets in the city. It is a highly-specialised designation where car-park-ing linked to nearby commercial developments is permitted but offices are not — the intention being to provide a buffer between residential and business uses. The developers, Duart Holdings, Ltd and the Don Forbes Construction Company, applied for a specified departure. Because one objection was lodged the case went before the council’s town planning committee. It granted the application after deciding that the project satisfied the intentions of the district scheme. Duart Holdings’ director, Mr Robert McLean, says that his import company, Robert McLean, Ltd, will move into one of the office suites, and that there will

be “no worry” in finding tenants for the rest. The adjoining residential units will mean that the site will be occupied around-the-clock; a fact that he finds comforting as a few years ago his warehouse was razed to the ground in the night by burglars. He does not know whether this will prove a strong incentive to others but presumably it will be — the security advantages are obvious. Mr McLean says that the office block will be completed by mid-July. Work will begin immediately on the townhouses, which will be sold under ownership

titles at prices which have yet to be decided, but wil] be in the $60,000 to $70,000 range. Each of the townhouses will have an enclosed courtyard at the front and another at the rear behind which will be a garage. They will have a floor area of 90 sq m with two double bdrms, a bathroom and laundry facilities upstairs and the kitchen, lounge and dining room at ground level. A real estate agent with experience in similar residential developments expects that the units will find a ready and varied market. There was once resis-

tance to “being jumbled up in two-storey townhouses” but it has now all but evaporated, he says. The growing divorce rate and the tendency towards smaller families or no children at all have increased the demand for one and two-bedroom dwellings. More and more people are finding that it suits their life-style to live within walking distance of Cathedral Square. He also says that the small sections will appeal to “the younger generation,” the members of which are “bone idle,” hate gardening, and prefer their week-ends free.