Western Park Apartments
Hopetoun Street, Ponsonby, Auckland
Partnership (Sanctuary Group) · 2017 · Sold outDeveloped by
Key facts
- 27 boutique apartments
- Two 1-bedroom guest suites
- Pool, tennis court & library
Western Park Apartments places twenty-seven boutique homes on Hopetoun Street, at the point where Ponsonby meets Western Park. The project was developed in partnership with Gary Groves of Sanctuary Group. The location lives a double life: the cafes and restaurants of Ponsonby a short walk one way, a quiet established park immediately the other. What most people passing the building never guess is that it began life as an office block, rebuilt as twenty-seven homes with a new look.
The conversion
An office building, rebuilt as a place to live
Western Park is a conversion: an existing four-level office building rebuilt as twenty-seven apartments behind a new look. The structure, the floor plates and the services were all laid out for desks, and every apartment had to be drawn around what the building would allow rather than what a blank site would.
We saw an opportunity in a space that was under-used as offices and turned it into homes. It was not without risk: a conversion inherits what sits beneath the surface, not all of it known at the time of purchase, and you are constrained by the structure you buy. What it bought in return was an established position on a street that was never going to offer a clear site.
The team
Three firms, one building
The project was delivered as a partnership between Heartland and Sanctuary Group. Paul Brown Architects shaped the concept, Peter Swan Architects carried the design through documentation and delivery, and Bracewell, an Auckland building firm now into its third generation, built it.
The amenity
What twenty-seven homes share
Shared amenity is the first thing cut from most small apartment projects, because it costs saleable area and it is nobody’s line item. Western Park kept its: a swimming pool, a tennis court, two one-bedroom guest suites at the rear for visitors, and downstairs a quiet library, somewhere to read away from the street.
With the park across the road and Ponsonby’s restaurants a short walk away, the effect is a small building that lives much larger than its footprint. Beneath it, three basement levels and podium parking carry the cars, serving not just these twenty-seven homes but the pre-existing apartments in the wider complex as well, which sit under their own body corporate.
Common questions
Where is Western Park Apartments?
At 9 Hopetoun Street, on the Ponsonby edge of Freemans Bay, Auckland, directly opposite Western Park. Ponsonby Road’s cafes and restaurants are a short walk away.
Who designed and built Western Park Apartments?
The project was a partnership between Heartland and Sanctuary Group. Paul Brown Architects developed the concept, Peter Swan Architects carried it through delivery, and Bracewell built it, converting an existing office building into 27 apartments. It was completed in 2017.
What shared facilities does the building have?
Residents share a swimming pool, a tennis court, two one-bedroom guest suites and a ground-floor library, with Western Park itself directly across the street. Parking runs across three basement levels plus podium parking, serving the whole complex including the pre-existing apartments above, which sit under their own body corporate.
Are any apartments available?
Not through Heartland; the homes are privately owned. Individual apartments occasionally resell or come up for rent through local agents.
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Ask about Western Park Apartments
Heartland builds in inner Auckland, and each new project opens to the people who asked first. Send a question about this one, or register to hear when the next opens.