High-rise living in central city

A new high-end development planned for the north end of Hamilton’s main street will feature nine New York-styled loft apartments.

Waikato real estate company Lugtons has revealed plans for a major six-storey development at 1010 Victoria St.

Named Northern Green, the mixed-use building replaces the company’s existing head office which is scheduled to be demolished in April.

The new build will feature two storeys of commercial space and four levels of apartments. Lugtons will occupy about 80 per cent of the ground floor, alongside a cafe.

The second floor will be split into six tenancies.

Presales for the 27 apartments and the commercial spaces is expected to go live this weekend.

Lugtons has been based in their current offices since 1999.

‘‘One of the reasons why we’re doing this is we just don’t have enough space to run our auctions, it’s just not big enough,’’ Lugtons managing director Simon Lugton said.

The new auction room will have capacity to seat 100 people with additional standing room.

Lugtons will relocate to another central city site while the new building is constructed. The build is expected to be completed by the end of 2023 or early 2024.

Northern Green will feature 18 mid-floor apartments ranging in size from 88 sqm to 118sqm. Prices range from $850,000 to $1.2 million.

‘‘We’ve seen a lot of apartments priced at the lower to mid-end [range] and then there’s been some quite high-end apartments come to market in the last couple of years,’’ Lugton said.

‘‘We’re probably creating something slightly different in that we’ve got a bit more of a spread. We’ve got a lot around the $850,000 mark, being our base price. That’s just above the Hamilton median price.’’

Northern Green’s top two levels will be occupied by nine penthouse apartments. Each apartment will be two storeys and are inspired by the New York style loft apartment. Prices for the penthouse apartments start at $1.4m.

A standout architectural feature of the building will be two ‘‘light wells’’ that penetrate the centre of the building, descending four floors.

The light wells serve to flood the building’s interior with natural light and create a central atrium.

‘‘We wanted to create something different from other apartment buildings that tend to be a bit like a hotel and the apartments come off a central corridor,’’ Lugton said.

‘‘All our apartments come off this light-filled atrium, so we’ll have light penetrating all the way through to the bottom level of apartments.

‘‘When you come out of your apartment, you’ll have light. It’s more open and probably there will be a bit more interaction with the residents of the building.’’

Each apartment will have a balcony, with sizes ranging between 15-29 sqm. Residents will have exclusive access to 35 basement car parks.

Pedestrians can enter the building from Victoria St while external car parking will be accessed off Hardley St.

Lugton said the concept of Northern Green was pitched to the company 18 months ago by Foster Develop and Edwards White Architects.

‘‘They approached us and said how would you like to have a great new building and redevelop your site ... and we’ll do some apartments as well. We looked at the design and thought it was magic.’’

Foster Construction Group chief executive Leonard Gardner often goes past the Lugtons building, and said it stood out as an ideal location for a mixed residential and commercial development.

Northern Green’s two light wells gives the build a point of difference, Gardner said.

‘‘I’m also very excited by the New York styled loft apartments that will occupy the top floors.

‘‘Multi-level commercial residential spaces are where the city is going in the next period of time.’’