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A mixed-use development called QuBA consisting of boutique commercial space and high-end residential apartment components is fast taking shape in the Quay Park precinct of Auckland's CBD.
Its unusual name is a reference to its location in a quadrant below Anzac Avenue, and a nod to the exclusive districts of SoHo and TriBeCa in New York City.
The project comprises 14 commercial units and over 100 apartments in four individual buildings set around outdoor streetscapes and a central courtyard called QuBA Square.
Construction work on QuBA, at the intersection of Mahuhu Crescent and Tapora St near the recently completed Vector arena, started last September and is due for completion late this year.
The development is being undertaken by Coltrane Trust, which recently completed the nearby 132-apartment Hudson Brown complex. The company says QuBA takes its cues from stylish urban neighbourhoods overseas such as London's Docklands and the Meat Packing District of New York, as well as the more interesting parts of Auckland's CBD such as Vulcan Lane and the Chancery.
Coltrane chief executive and architectural director Gary Martin says the company set out to create one of the city's most significant urban icons in terms of its architecture and in offering a new way of living and working.
High-profile designers Martin Hughes Architecture Interiors and architects Woodhams Meikle Zhan have collaborated to produce the concept of a trendy urban precinct anchored by QuBA Square where sculpture, landscaping, restaurants and cafes provide residents and workers with places to meet.
John Hughes, director of Martin Hughes Architecture Interiors, says the communal spaces have been inspired by traditional European villages where promenading is part of daily life. Intimately placed shops, lanes and coffee houses encourage residents, workers and visitors to congregate and mingle.
Set among narrow Vulcan Lane-like areas, they will provide plenty of space to walk, watch and pass the time of day, says Hughes. In a city where urban living often means foregoing a sense of belonging, QuBA is about creating a village community, with village values, right in the heart of the city.
Hughes says the QuBA buildings are being constructed from durable and enduring materials ranging from sandstone to basalt and metal designed to give a timeless feel with creative facade treatments.
Martin says the commercial and residential elements of the development are intended to be complementary with the commercial units on the lower levels and apartments above.
Seven of the 14 commercial spaces have already been snapped up. For sale or lease, they range in size from 134 square metres to 324 sq m. Each of the tenancies are open plan with a mezzanine floor and a stud height of close to six metres. Large windows provide excellent natural light. There is a high ratio of car parks within the development's big basement car park. An independent 500 car park building adjoins the QuBA site.
Bayleys Real Estate's Gabrielle Ellett, who is marketing the commercial part of the development in conjunction with James Jones, says the tenancies will be finished to a very high standard but are being offered as shells in order to provide occupants with maximum fitout flexibility. Occupants can choose their own floor and ceiling finishes.
Ellett says the spaces have been designed to accommodate creative businesses and could potentially suit boutique clothing retail, furniture showrooms, galleries, cafes, architectural, design or textile companies, advertising agencies, among other uses.
She says businesses will benefit from QuBAs excellent location in the heart of the revitalised Quay Park precinct. The commercial tenancies open directly to QuBA Square and the pedestrian ways.
Jones says the purchase option for the commercial units could suit companies that are now leasing premises but are looking to own and occupy. He says Bayleys can arrange finance packages in conjunction with the National Bank to cater for this type of buyer.
Jones says the units may also appeal to investors interested in taking a position in the area between the Britomart transport interchange and the Vector arena which is undergoing huge regeneration.
QuBA's residential component contains a total 111 one-bedroom, two-bedroom and top-level penthouse apartments. The one-bedroom apartments range from 40 to 43 sq m and have a stud height of 2.7 m. The two-bedroom apartments range from to 179 sq m (plus decks and terraces taking the largest to 219 sq m) with most having a 5.8 m stud height over the living areas.
Marketing agent Carla Pedersen, of Bayleys Auckland Central, says fitout features include natural timber floors through the kitchen, dining and living areas, plush wool carpet in the bedroom areas and stone/porcelain flooring in the bathrooms.
She says all apartments come with top of the range appliances, stone bench-tops, generous storage and entertaining areas and the larger dwellings will offer indoor and outdoor fireplaces.
Wide frontages combined with extensive use of glass ensure the apartments receive good natural light from all sides, giving them a spacious airy feeling and some of the penthouses will also enjoy sea views.
Pedersen says the apartments will be fully soundproofed and finished to a high standard, including provision for air conditioning. The apartments could appeal to professionals and couples who want to live in the inner city, as well as business people who want to live and work in the same space.
The price of apartments, which include car parks, start at $350,000 for a one-bedroom and $535,000 for a two-bedroom.
Paul Macintosh, concept architect for Martin Hughes Interiors, says the QuBA project has pushed the boundaries of design. "We as concept architects became involved very early in the piece. This meant developers, architects and builders could collaborate from the beginning and design the building literally from the inside out."
He says rather than build a conventional hallway, an atrium has been created in the centre, with access to each apartment via a series of spectacular suspended bridges.
"This sense of openness continues with full-height reflective glass walls in the atrium which channel light and fresh air into every apartment. We've given the interiors a similar treatment. By paring the internal walls right back, the living areas remain spacious."
