Other Places Ltd director Dylan Cazemier said six townhouses under construction in Maori Hill’s Cannington Rd were meeting a different need than those that were springing up in other parts of the city.
Many of the other townhouse projects in the city were targeting investors, he said.
They were cost-effective, smaller units, primarily designed with long-term rentals in mind.
"And the city’s in desperate need of that."
However, Māori Hill was an established, upmarket neighbourhood and these new townhouses were designed — by Kyle O’Neil, from Architecture Design Studio — with neighbourhood residents who wanted to downsize from larger family homes and stay in the area specifically in
mind.
"And then the same with the architectural expression on the outside," he said.
"There’s a really big focus on aesthetics and design and making sure we’re contributing to the neighbourhood.
"Dunedin’s housing landscape has lacked this type of offering: a collection of spacious, townhomes that prioritise both luxury and low-maintenance living," Mr Cazemier said.
"Essentially there’s a lot of people that have lived in Māori Hill over the past 20, 30 years of their life, and ... the idea was to create something more compact, but still spacious and luxurious that people can downsize into and live in the area.
"This is probably a pretty good example of our interest in design, improving the city’s built environment and leaving a site in a better state than what we found it."
A lot of the Māori Hill area had recently been rezoned to allow for a higher density of homes in the neighbourhood "essentially to stop the city sprawling outwards", he said.
The site at 91 Cannington Rd was cleared earlier this year.
Foundations were under construction at the moment, Mr Cazemier said.
The expected completion date was in August next year.
One unit had already sold, he said.
Other Places’ boutique hotel development Ebb-Dunedin, in Filleul St, designed by Dunedin’s Gary Todd Architecture, has won several awards over the past three years, including the Sir Miles Warren Award for commercial architecture in 2022.
