Residents of Mount Maunganui's Calais Mount Resort face $11m upgrade bill

Long-time residents of the Calais Mount Resort Tony and Mary Florence and chef Stephen Barry. Photo / Andrew Warner

A couple living in Mount Maunganui's Calais Mount Resort say they are having to sink their life savings into repair work on the building.

Mary and Tony Florence have lived in the Calais for the past 20 years and say they are having to spend $750,000 to fix two apartments they own in the building. They live in one of the apartments and operate the other as an Airbnb.

In total, $11 million worth of work is to be carried out on the 22-year-old building located in Adams Ave. The work will include complete remediation and replacement of all wall claddings, decaying timber wall framing, existing balconies and accessways.
It also involved converting the ground floor restaurant into additional units.

There are 43 units in the body corporate, all individually owned.

The secretary for the body corporate, who did not want to be named, said the project involved "recladding the building to bring it up to the current standards".

"The owners are investing and upgrading the building."

The secretary said there was likely to be some "minor leaks" but it was more of an upgrade. The Unit Titles Act determined what per cent each owner would pay, the secretary said.

"It's the same as how you would pay your ordinary levies. Some are more than others."

An artist's impression of what the Calais could look like once completed. Photo / Supplied

However, Mary Florence says it feels like "the rug has been pulled from under us".

"All of our life savings and everything has gone down the tubes basically.

"We're spending it all on the remedial work, which has come to three-quarters of a million dollars. So it is quite expensive for us."

Mary said they could not sell their apartment in the building's current state.

"So basically, we just have to see it through and hopefully we can afford to stay. We definitely will be able to keep one of them but we may have to sell one to keep us going for the rest of our lives."

Mary said one of the residents who had lived there since day one had to relocate to Christchurch because they could not afford to do the remedial work.

"It's pretty sad."

Tony Florence said he and his wife had owned a dairy farm in Taranaki and moved to Tauranga when they retired.

"We decided to sail around the world and this was an ideal place for boats and moorings. We chose an apartment because we could go away sailing, which we did for many years."

He said their apartments did not have any leaks, but "unfortunately if you do one you've got to do the lot".

The problem with this building, he said, was the decks all had negative camber and the water did not run off. Instead, he said, the water sat alongside the building and gradually crept into the bottom.

"That's what has happened."

Tony said it was "sad" because, as he understood it, the council was supposed to check the water run-off before putting down tiles and signing it off "but they neglected to do that so it has come back to us".

New building code rules meant they also had to replace 42 balustrades to make them higher, he said.

The couple planned to live in France with their daughter, son-in-law, and two grandchildren during the remedial work as renting in Tauranga was "too expensive".

"We will reassess it after it's finished and hopefully we can afford to keep both apartments and start the Airbnb up again."

Other members who spoke to NZME were positive about the revamp.

Stephen Barry plans to convert what was the Mount Bistro into two apartments.

Barry closed the restaurant, which was underneath the Calais Mount Resort, in March last year after months of searching for a maitre d' and sous chef. He had owned the restaurant for 14 years.

Since then, Barry has been living in one of the one-bedroom apartments and using the vacant restaurant as his living and dining area.

Barry said he closed the restaurant for a number of reasons.

"Part of it was Covid and not being able to get enough reliable staff. I think I closed at just the right time."

Barry said he had sold his home in Hairini and knew the Calais was going to have to close for a year or so for the remedial work.

"I decided it was a better use of the properties to turn it into apartments. Property is increasing in value, it would be a better investment than returning it into a restaurant."

Barry said he would live in one apartment and rent out the other.

Barry said the building was in need of some repair.

"It's a good solid building with good bones and structure. The main problem was things weren't done quite right when it was first built and getting a bit of moisture getting into the walls.

"We're tidying that up. On the whole, it's a great building and, with the remedial work, we are giving it a bit of a chance for a facelift at the same time.

"I think it's going to be a good evolution for the Calais."

The recladding begins on April 5 and the work was expected to be completed in June or July 2023.

Barry said he was moving into his sister's home while the remedial work took place.

"I am quite looking forward to the change. I'm a great believer in what is meant to be is meant to be."

Ashleigh Hill has worked at the Calais for 15 years.

She started out as a receptionist and was later promoted to manager.

"I pretty much came out of school, went there, and stayed."

Hill said it was "exciting" for the Calais to get a "fresh start".

"To get to relaunch it will be pretty awesome."

A few owners had sold and gone in the last 15 years and the makeover was "definitely due", she said.

"In 22 years, it ages a lot so it would be good to get it into the current times."

Tauranga City Council building services manager Steve Pearce said its role as a building consent authority was to assess that building consents complied with the building code.

Pearce said all new building work must comply with the current building code, which had changed since the Calais was built in 2000.

"The new standard would require the balustrades to be 1.1m high due to the property being short-term stay commercial properties.

"As the building was built 22 years ago the existing balustrade is not 1.1m high, and because it is being updated it needs to be raised."

Pearce said the council was not aware the Calais was deemed a leaky building and no claims confirming that have been lodged.

When asked for a response to claims it neglected to check water run-off properly, or any complaints it had received about the building, the council directed NZME to the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act.