Landscaped housing development takes out top property award

An up and coming residential housing development in rural heartland just south of Auckland has taken out a national award for its design and layout.

The 289-site Anselmi Ridge on the edge of Pukekohe took out the Award for Excellence in the Urban Land Development category at the Property Council New Zealand Awards announced this month.

The 36 hectare site has been developed by McConnell Property Ltd on what was once farmland owned by the Anselmi family. Bayleys Counties has been marketing sections across the valleys and hillside of Anselmi Ridge since July last year, and with most of the first stage of the community now sold, is actively showcasing some 150 plots in the second phase.

Bayleys Counties has been running an office at the development on weekends, staffed by salesmen Robert Green and Ben Jameson, alongside regional manager Raymond Mountfort, who said Bayleys had been proactively helping to facilitate design and build packages for new home buyers looking to move into Anselmi Ridge. Section sizes in stage two range from 364 square metres to 865 square metres.

McConnell Property development manager Mark Gibb said that as a result of Bayleys’ presence within the Anselmi environment, house construction company Haven NZ has developed a new type of housing product for potential buyers.

“This next generation of dwelling option is targeted at a new price point and demographic groups to make entry into the development more approachable and affordable,” Mr Gibb said.

“These new single level four bedroom homes that front onto the park are currently awaiting resource consent, expected by September, with building and landscaping to begin in the final quarter of 2011.”

Mr Gibb said the Property Council award was peer recognition of the forward-thinking urban planning which had gone into Anselmi’s overall look, and would underpin future marketing efforts to sell down the new homes.

“As the developer, we are enormously proud of the achievements to date for Anselmi Ridge stage one, and are confident of repeating the Property Council accolade in years to come for stage two as we continue to sell down the remaining residential sections,” he said.

Bayleys’ next anticipated Anselmi Ridge sale is scheduled for June 28 at the company’s East Tamaki office, when a house built by Jennian Homes goes up for auction. The four-bedroom designer show-home is built on a corner-site which exceeds the construction covenants McConnell Property Ltd has for all dwellings in the development.