Carol and Peter Hirst lived for years in the leafy suburb of Epsom, brining up their children, tending a large garden, maintaining a pool. After their children left home they downsized to a townhouse, but found themselves restless.
Then one day about 18 months ago Carol saw a story in Heraldhomes about an apartment for sale at the new lighter Quay development downtown and her interest was piqued. “I left the story lying around for about a week until Peter noticed it,” smiled Carol.
“We went to see the apartment on a Friday, and by Monday had bought it.” It was the view that grabbed them. “We walked in, saw all the boats out the window and just said ‘Wow’,” recalls Carol. Since then they have grown to love the ever-changing scene off their deck, even got to know the skippers and deckhands who regularly pull into the marina. They watch the comings and goings of Fashion Week at the former America’s Cup buildings next door, saw the cross-harbour swimmers last month, and there are dragon boating races most weeks.
Peter walks their dog Daisy down to the fishing wharves at the end of the road to see the catches come in. “It’s never boring,” says Carol. “There’s always something going on, and a great mixture of people living around us.”
There is now the opportunity to join the Lighter Quay community with six apartments for sale.
Two of the apartments are in the Stratis building, two are in the Pavillions, and two in the North building. The three buildings will be joined by a fourth due for completion around the middle of next year, which will house the Westin Hotel. Together they enclose a central marina – owners of ground floor apartments in the Pavilions have a landing from which they can step from their boat onto their balcony. The Stratis building takes on the flagship role of the development in more ways than one.
Designed by Architects Patterson, the long, six-storey structure is bounded by water on three sides and from some angles looks like a cruise liner. From others you can see its port connotations, with the apartments stacked like containers. The koru-derived decoration on its rear panels anchor it in its Pacific location.
Each apartment in Stratis has an enclosed balcony made almost entirely of glass. This allows owners to open or close the space to the elements without blocking the northeast view across the viaduct to the cityscape and out to the harbor. Some apartmetns flow through the width of the building, with an additional view of the private marina on the western side.
The North building, in which Carol and Peter live, looks north across the Lighter Basin marina to the harbour beyond, and around to the city. It has a strong, classic design element with polished timber columns that stretch its height, spacious balconies, and motorized sun louvres. High-spec interiors include design details by Philippe Starck and Sir Norman Foster.
All Lighter Quay residents have use of a gym, spa and an indoor pool – cleverly positioned on the same level as the water of the private marina or the other side of the glass wall. Once the hotel is finished, its amenities will also be available to Lighter Quay residents, including its concierge service.
“We’ve had our son and his family staying with us for the past few weeks and it’s been just fine,” says Carol. “The apartment is big enough that it feels like a home, and you can walk to so many places from here. Its less than 10 minutes to all the Viaduct restaurants. “Then if we want to travel we can just lock the door, let the [on site] manager know and off we go.”
Carol and Peter can’t imagine returning to the suburbs. “This complex has everything we need for this stage of our lives. We haven’t regretted moving here for a minute.”
