When Bruce and Lynn Tonkin got an offer too good to refuse on their Glendowie house they discussed giving apartment living a go.
At first they weren't sure they would find an apartment big enough for themselves and their two girls but when they walked into this one they wereblown away.
The family lived here for five or six years before moving out a few months ago to renovate and loved the low-maintenance lifestyle, says Bruce.
Prior to buying here they had built their former house and Bruce says they had a brilliant view across the harbour.
When the offer to buy came, Lynn had her doubts: "Oh, you know, kids, apartment, not enough room to swing a cat ... then we found this," says Bruce.
"It's an apartment on steroids. Two hundred and sixty square metres of apartment space."
It is also in one of the iconic apartment blocks in the area, he says. Called Azurion, the nine-apartment complex was built in the 1980s.
Their apartment needed updating inside so they recently took down a wall separating the kitchen from the dining area to make one big space. Now there is an expansive lounge and both formal and informal dining areas, new kitchen cabinetry and appliances, and revamped bathrooms.
Image 1 of 12: Newly renovated apartment has a flexible layout, superb location and a shared pool
Bruce likes sitting at the table by the curved windows in the informal dining area and spending a lazy Sunday reading the paper in the sun and looking out at the view across to the city.
At night the view is magnificent, he says. "Anything that happens out on the water, or the Sky Tower, anything like that, we have a great view from here. And if it's down in the harbour we just walk down the end of the road to Paritai Drive and watch it all from there."
When they moved out for the renovations they hadn't planned to leave, but they found a house in Meadowbank and have decided to stay there.
"We've gone back to a house, a nice comfortable sort of a house, so two houses -- we have to sell one and this was the obvious one because it's freshly done up. Somebody can just move into an apartment, which is what appealed to me in the first place with the apartment thing: no maintenance, no lawns, no gardens, pool. I still love it, absolutely, but this is the one to sell."
The apartment can be used as either two bedrooms and two lounges or three bedrooms. Two of the bedrooms have doors to a conservatory and out to a patio (there is another outdoor living area which Bruce says is their tropical garden).
The master bedroom has a roomy his and hers walk-in wardrobe with its own windows and a huge en suite with an impressive step-up spa bath.
There's a walk-in laundry with tons of space and there are plenty of storage cupboards.
Out at the shared pool, Bruce says you hardly ever see anyone else, and once inside you don't hear any of the other residents.
"The other thing we found with living in an apartment there was more time for leisure."
The apartment is alarmed and the complex is gated so it's very secure, he says, and on the doorstep is the train station, cafes, bars, restaurants and shops, the city, the waterfront, St Heliers and good schools.
