Chris Meehan has had some explaining to do of late. His property development company Winton has, until recently, focused on well-known places like Wanaka and Queenstown, Hobsonville Point or the newly opened eateries of the city’s Queens Rise.
But when it comes to one of the company’s newest projects, a master-planned community on the edge of Te Kauwhata, people are puzzled.
“They’ve driven past the sign on the highway to Hamilton, but nobody been there,” says Meehan. “They get here and see the lake and they’re blown away.”
That’s Lake Waikere, one of the biggest shallow peat lakes in the country, where Winton has rezoned 180 hectares of former farmland to build a new community of 1600 homes over the next ten years.
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The appeal of the place is that it’s right next to the township of Te Kauwhata so, unlike most new suburbs on Auckland’s fringes, residents will get the immediate community that nearly 1,500 residents brings. There’s an old-fashioned main street shops, cafes and a pub, a primary and secondary school, cool library, sports grounds, a medical centre. And a Facebook group that says it all: Te Kauwhata - Why it's Awesome.
Meehan and Winton’s senior investment associate Duncan Elley point out that Lakeside’s location only 50 kilometres from Hamilton and 70km south of Auckland places it square in the middle of the booming ‘golden triangle’ of Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga. Projections to 2033 are for another 211,000 households to be added to the area (excluding Auckland itself), and already Te Kauwhata’s growth from 2001 to 2016 was 39 percent above the wider Auckland region.
The company, working to a master plan by Jasmax, has made nature the attraction for buyers moving down from the city. Greenways within Lakeside accommodate walking and cycling, and the company is also upgrading Scotts Road, that connects to the township, with improved paving and a three metre wide cycle and pedestrian path, as well as adding a second access road to town. Open space is important.
“We’re putting in 82 hectares of recreation around the lake, with board walks, parks and playing fields,” says Meehan
. “And we’re building a new seven hectare lake - that’s the equivalent of ten rugby fields - that will have a beach with sand for swimming paddling and kayaking, with walkways to connect with the rest of the lake. That’ll be ready by end of 2020.”
The company makes no bones that affordable pricing is one of the big attractions for buyers so far with small Modern homes starting at $480,000 to bigger three or four bedroom Vantage styles, starting at $590,000 and sections available from $235,000.
This Sunday a gala open day releases the last of the lake front sections- with a petting zoo to reinforce the country lifestyle (from 11am to 2pm). As well as 16 sections, there are 12 Modern and six Vantage homes. Home-buyers can check the five show homes - all designed by SGA architects - and the progress on roading and facilities for the first 200 homes. Earthworks have already begun for the village centre, which will open by February 2020, in time for the first residents moving in. Work has also started for a new primary school, slated for opening in 2023.
“There’s lots already finished, roads already levelled and shaped,” says Elley. “We want to show how they are carefully tiered to give most an open view of the lake. There’s been such strong demand for lakeside sections, we’ve sold out of the first ones and have 16 more coming on.
“Some are land only, others you can pick your own from the architect designs,” he says. “People have been blown away by the quality of the show homes. We’re working with Gj Gardner and Mike Greer Homes, using local builders and tradespeople.”
“It’s attracting people who want a Kiwi lifestyle, a town with clubs and community, and it’s affordable. We’ve had a young tradesman in his 20s moving down from Albany to buy his first home; we’ve had empty nesters in their 70s coming for the views of the lake,” says Elley.
Meehan says that when motorway upgrades south complete in 2021, people are expecting to get to Hamilton in 45 minutes. The company is also in talks with KiwiRail to add a train stop on the proposed commuter train between Papakura and Hamilton and has already submitted station designs.
