Huntington: The luxury apartments marking a new era for Newcastle's once-industrial foreshore

If you were an outsider you could almost say it’s a tale of two cities at Newcastle. But locals know the town is just on the cusp of a new and exciting chapter.

For the past 20 years, the harbour city has been shedding its industrial skin to emerge as a hip hub for all walks of life.

Just last month, it etched up 20 years since the closure of the BHP steelworks. The community had feared the worst, but the unemployment rate fell and the harbour slowly changed colour from a lifeless grey to a vibrant blue.

“Newcastle is one of those classic post-industrial success stories that you see all over the world,” says Chris Chapman, managing director of Colliers International real estate in Newcastle. “We all knew the geography of the city was one day going to make it great.

“What’s happening now is that the city has infrastructure around the foreshore and the harbour. Honeysuckle is booming with cafes and bars and boutiques.

“Ten, 15 years ago there wasn’t much to do in the town and now there’s heaps. The transformation has been extraordinary.”

Offering 89 apartments, Huntington is a newcomer to Newcastle’s Honeysuckle precinct. The waterfront site is a major revitalisation of the former industrial land that has seen wharves become foreshore promenades and public squares with waterfront eateries.

Chapman expects Huntington’s harbourside location to be its most appealing factor.

“You’re on the harbour, 100 metres from the train station to take you up to the centre of Newcastle and to the beach, so a 10-minute ride to the top of town,” he says.

“You’re a five-minute walk to the main transport interchange for Newcastle and you are going to have a world-class restaurant precinct on the ground floor of Huntington. And if you walk further east, you’ve got cafes, restaurants and bars.”

Harbour views are the star of the show at Huntington’s most exclusive apartments.

Lead architect Emily Wombwell from SJB says the old-meets-new story behind the development is referenced in Huntington’s materials, including recycled local masonry.

“We’ve used brick and glass and metal to change form as it wraps around the building,” she says. “The northern side is much more open while the south is more about framed views and noise protection.

“The use of brick at Huntington is really talking to the old town portion of Hunter Street and I think it’s really about creating new buildings with a lot of character and quality that people look for in older buildings, but with the high amenity of modern and harbourside living,” she says.