John Harman likes to sweat the details. In his former profession, surgery, tiny details could mean the difference between life and death. And while the quality of tap fittings or distance from hob to kitchen bench may not be as critical to someone's health as where to make an incision, they do have an impact on the quality of their life.
Harman, who performed the first breast reconstruction surgery in New Zealand and set up the country's first breast clinic, was forced to give up life as a surgeon after a spa pool accident damaged his wrist three years ago.
His new life as a luxury apartment developer in Auckland also came about by accident. "I bought land on St Marks Rd in Remuera 30 years ago to build the breast clinic," he says. "Back in 2014, I had planned to upgrade the clinic but then my planner told me that under the unitary plan I could build add apartments to the commercial building, which is how St Marks came to life."
Harman is a passionate advocate for apartment living, and he gave OneRoof.co.nz an exclusive tour of St Marks, before the first of development's residents arrive at the end of the month.
Start your property search
The development, which includes 58 apartments and six floors of medical tenancies in a separate but adjoined wing appropriately called the blade, cost $76 million and took three years to build, and the view from the two-level penthouse apartment, which sold off the plan for more than $6 million in 2016, suggests it was all certainly worth it: Rangitoto seems to be mere hand grab away while Newmarket buzzes to the left and Mt Hobson offers peaceful serenity to the right.
The average sale price for a St Marks apartment is $2 million, but some have been sold well below that, with the starting price $440,000. Five are still on the market, with one set to go to auction on November 15.
"People think they need much more space than they do. Apartment living brings the family together and frees you up to focus on the things that matter," he says.
Harman says he wasn't daunted by the scale of the challenge, but there was one week that left him sweating. "Probably the worst week of my life was when the building price escalated by 15 percent overnight and construction prices went up 20 percent, and suddenly I thought, I don't know how I can do this," he says.
He did after a crunch meeting with the bank, his builder and the design team - managing to reduce costs but not compromise on quality.
His best moment was when the gardens went in and the green walls went up. "I was overjoyed to see something so beautiful, full of New Zealand plants, and that this would be ever-changing and there forever."
When he decided to build apartments on the site, as well as a clinic, there were three important boxes that had to be ticked — the apartments had to be watertight, beautiful to look at and functional.
"Plus I also wanted them to be value for money and to grow in value," he says.
He helped to drive the design, and he was keen to make sure apartment living provided residents with benefits such as little maintenance, without curtailing their lifestyles.
"They can live the way they used to — they still want to be able to entertain, to have a decent-sized kitchen, to have outdoor space. We've provided that."
Harman has gone over every detail - even down to the tap fittings. "I live in an apartment with my wife and young son, so I had a very good idea of what people want," he says.
