Apartment plans for Manly

The top floor of this building in Manly Village is to be turned into apartments.

Living in the heart of Manly Village will be possible once plans to create seven apartments on the upper floor of the building at 54–56 Rawhiti Road, reach the construction stage.

Hibiscus Matters has uncovered plans by the building’s owner, Pamber (Auckland) Ltd, to change the use of the upper floor of the building from commercial use to residential apartments. Local businessmen Jonathan and Nigel Rigg are the directors of Pamber, but Jonathan did not wish to comment on the plan.

Auckland Council granted resource consent on June 27 last year for minor additions to the upper floor, including the creation of loft bedrooms with ensuites in the roof, new spouting and balustrades. Household units are permitted in the Retail Service Zone (but not on the ground floor) and consent was only required because of minimal external alterations.

The plan has meant the relocation of popular restaurant Maison Thai to the ground floor of the same building, once its lease expires next month.

Meanwhile, the building of a five-storey apartment/retail complex at nearby 60–62 Rawhiti Road is still on the books, but has not yet progressed beyond the resource consent stage.

The apartment and retail complex first gained resource consent in 2009, despite strong opposition. The property has changed hands since consent was granted and the current owner, KBL (2013) Ltd (sole director Lawrence Stanaway of Auckland) successfully amended the consent in September, 2013. The consent now allows for 26 apartments, 42 car parks and a reduction in the retail and commercial area from 702sqm to 632sqm. The changes also allow for two additional access points for cars, but there is no overall change to the scale or bulk of the proposed building.

Building consents have not yet been sought for either of these developments.