We've dubbed this one Star Newton, after the old Star Hotel on the corner of Newton Gully and Karangahape Road (a haven for rabble-rousers, unionists, free-thinkers and seditionists, The Star is where a young Michael Joseph Savage delivered some of his first and most incendiary speeches).
Conceptualised as a build-to-rent for urbanite tenants, Star Newton comprises 32 one-bedroom, one-bedroom-plus-study and one-bedroom plus flexi-room layout apartments. It features a 360 views residents’ lounge on the roof and – like its predecessors Daisy and Modal – no car parking. But there’s ample bike storage space. This seemed only natural to us – as Auckland grows, we’ve built for an inner-city lifestyle of the future.
Architecturally Star Newton’s design touches on the industrial, warehousey history of the area, looking to New York loft conversions for its inspiration. The top floor is clad in a black metallic brick and many of the interiors include custom borrowed light glass walls. On the façade repetitive floor to ceiling windows and soldier course brick band detailing create a rhythmic vertical tenor. The aim was to bring a new sense of activity to the street, adding character and colour to the built environment. We reckon what we landed on heralds the area toward a more residential mixed-use zone, connecting it to the progress and changes happening along Karangahape Road, Great North Road and Ponsonby Road.
Star Newton gained practical completion in in May 2022. It was purchased by Resident Properties, a build-to-rent property specialist who rechristened it The Nix. We still give it a wave every time we go up Newton Gully.
