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UPDATE JULY 2018: Just a few of the 50 Arlington apartments remain for sale and the developer is offering huge incentives such as a $35,000 first home buyer grant and $20,000 buyer incentives. The completed apartments are open for inspection on Tuesdays and Saturdays. There are two-bedroom apartments available from $355,000.
The Arlington is a new investment-grade apartment building in Nundah, located just outside the new Circa Nundah Village redevelopment. This project is under construction and due to be completed in October 2016. At the time of writing this article, approximately 50% of the building had been sold. The majority of purchases are investors who are attracted to this building due to its location and low price point.
Interestingly the Developer is offering a number of optional ways to customise your apartment which will make it far more appealing to owner-occupiers, so we expect the building to start attracting more owner-occupiers.
The Arlington is 50 apartments over 8 levels. All of the apartments in the project are two (2) bedroom apartments, 22 of these have a single bathroom whilst the remainder have two bathrooms.
Internally, the apartments at Arlington range from 63m² to 86m², whilst the balconies range from 14m² to 95m². The ground floor apartments at this project have large courtyards. Also, apartments located on the building’s podium levels (ground to level four) have larger balconies than the apartments above level four.
There is a BBQ area and entertainment deck for residents on the top level of this building. Care has been taken so that the residential amenities are economical and will be cost effective to maintain. Examples of this are the decision to exclude a pool and have potted plants instead of built-in planters throughout the building. The advantage of this is low body corporate rates and maintenance costs for owners.
In terms of car parking, each apartment comes with just a single car space. These are provided over three basement levels. Some apartments come with storage lockers as well. These are located against the wall at the front of the car parks.
These apartments will have views over the houses that are in front of them if they are on the street side of the building. Those on the rear of the building will overlook the train line and Oxenham Park. It would follow that, if you are looking at an apartment on the rear side of the building, purchasing one on a higher level would be worthwhile as it would be further distanced from the train line and have better views of the park.
Power bills at this building will be lower than average, because the developer has negotiated a special rate with Origin Energy.
If you are an investor we recommend staying away from some of the two-bedroom floor plans at Arlington as the bedrooms pushed right next to each other. These layouts are less favourable when trying to attract tenants because the physical separation of bedrooms. That being said, some of the other floor plans that have the two bedrooms quite separate from each other would be ideal for renters. Type D & F are two good examples of ideal floor plans for tenants with natural separation of bedrooms.
On the other hand if you are an owner-occupier, having your bedrooms together but quite seperate from the living area is attractive, so these same apartments would be the best option for you.
Location:
Render of Arlington Apartments showing neighbours, train line behind and Oxenham Park in the background. Supplied by developer.
This building is located at 27 Nundah Street, Nundah. Nundah Street is made up of apartment buildings and light industrial buildings. The front side of the building, which faces Nundah Street, looks over houses and small apartment blocks. The back of the building is right on the Nundah Train line and looks over Oxenham Park and suburban Nundah.
Streetscape photo showing Arlington Apartments (under construction on the left) with Circa Nundah buildings in background. Photo taken 25/07/2016.
Arlington Apartments is 300m away from the new Nundah Village. This means that residents can walk there in about three minutes. This is one of the major advantages of this location. This precinct is at the tail end of a massive urban renewal that has brought retail, dining, entertainment and services to the area. Some of the major draw cards of the new Nundah Village is Queensland’s largest Go Health Club, Primal Pantry, King of Cakes and the newly redeveloped pub The Royal (formerly The Royal English Hotel).
Part of Nundah Village is a pre-established village hub that has a range of stores and services surrounding the Circa Nundah Village Precinct. There is a Woolworths, Farmers’ Market, Australia Post and several boutique stores and cafes. This is a small hub that really has a good community feel to it which is enhanced by the restricted traffic conditions in the area.
Arlington Apartments is approximately 150m from Nundah Train Station. The Ipswich, Cleveland, Shorncliffe and Cleveland Lines run from this station. A trip into Central Station from Nundah Station takes 16 minutes and trains leave every 9 minutes, so it is a very easy and convenient commute to work.
There are several schools in the local area. Just 1.5km from this project, ther are three schools – St Joseph’s Nundah, Nundah Primary and Mary Mackillop College. Also, given that ease of access to train travel, schools in the city and near train stations are an easy option. These would include secondary private schools in the city such as Brisbane Grammar School, Gregory Terrace, All Hallows and others.
At the 2011 Census, the population of Nundah was 10,392 people. This figure had increased by 25% since the previous Census in 2006. This is quite substantial population growth that is consistent with inner city urban renewal regions. Couples with no children are the predominant housing type in Nundah, making up 26.7% of all households. However, a further 26% of households in the area are couples with children. The median unit price in Nundah is $415,000, a figure that has increased by 4% over the past 12 months. The suburbs median rent for an apartment is $390 per week. Neighbouring suburbs include Northgate, Hendra, Lutwyche and Wavell Heights.
Quality and Finishes:
Arlington Apartments are fitted out with economical finishes, in line with their price range and target market of investors. There is just one colour scheme to choose from in this building.
An example of the finishes at Arlington Apartments. Photo taken 25/07/2016.
In terms of appliances, the kitchens are fitted out with Bosch appliances. This includes the gas cooktop and dishwasher. The dishwasher is not integrated.
Every apartment in the building has Daikin air conditioning units in the main bedroom and living area. There are also fans in the bedrooms and living room. There is a 4kg dryer included in the laundry as well.
Bedroom render. Supplied by developer.
There are large floor tiles in the kitchen of these apartments, whilst the living area and bedrooms are carpeted. It’s not common at the moment to have carpeted living areas in new apartments in Brisbane with most electing for wood or bamboo floor or tiles, so this is a little point of difference.
There is an option to put in wood or bamboo flooring however, and according to the Developer a number of owner-occupiers are electing for this.
Kitchen render. Supplied by developer.
The kitchen benchtop is stone and the splashback is a light coloured tile. The bathroom vanity shares the same stone as the kitchen benchtop and has two small laminate cupboards beneath. None of the kitchens include island benches or entertaining benches as standard to maximise the open floor space. However the Developer has plans drawn up for island benches in a number of the apartments and has offered to include island benches as an optional upgrade. Finding a Developer with this level of flexibility is quite rare and a big plus for Arlington, and is certainly going to be appreciated by owner-occupiers.
All remaining apartments at Arlington Apartments are priced between $419,000 and $529,000. The two (2) bedroom, two (2) bathroom apartments start from $479,000.
The expected rental value of these apartments is between $400 and $440 per week for an unfurnished two (2) bedroom, one (1) bathroom apartment and between $460 and $490 per week for an unfurnished two (2) bedroom, two (2) bathroom apartment.
The average body corporate rate at Arlington Apartments is $3,660 per annum.
There is also on-site management at this building.
Nundah is seeing a number of new developments that are looking to capitalise on the urban renewal that has been occurring in the area. These apartments are generally investment grade – leveraging the easy transport and close employment opportunities at the Airport and Trade Coast. Some of these include Circa Three, Elysium, Eton Street, Eighteen and Duke & York.
The developer for this project is James Property Group. This is a small, private Brisbane based developer. Arlington Apartments is being built by CBD Constructions, who are a 10-year-old building and construction company. They do both residential and commercial contracts.
There is no sales display for these units and they are being marketed through the developer, who is happy to meet buyers onsite by appointment.
We would love to hear your thoughts on this project.
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