Annie and Jack
Scaling down, styling up
Wherever you’re at in life: flying solo, raising a family, downsizing or considering a move from interstate or overseas – Adelaide is a great city to call home and apartments are becoming a popular first choice for property buyers.
Self employed agent and yoga teacher, Annie and her partner Jack, who’s now enjoying retirement, bought their contemporary apartment in the CBD’s south-east about 18 months ago.
For this couple, city living means comfort, convenience and a sense of community.
The idea of moving to the city was sparked by the departure of their adult-age children from the family home of some 23 years in the Adelaide suburbs. What sealed the deal was discovering the place they now call home.
“We weren’t seriously looking, but when we found this apartment by chance one Sunday, we knew it was for us,” said Annie.
The apartment’s location in a modern complex across from the South Park Lands was a big attraction, as was swapping the hassles of maintaining a suburban home for a simpler yet no less luxurious lifestyle.
“We’re right in the hub of things here,” said Annie. “We can walk to Hutt Street which has all the practical amenities you need as a resident but great eating places too.”
Bar Torino, Hutt Street
With just a few pot plants to tend, Jack’s enjoying having more time to zip around town on his scooter to catch a movie or play tennis.
“We simply have less to worry about now,” said Jack. “Less cleaning, less repairs and we can just lock the place up to go travel."
Not that they need to go far to enjoy multi-cultural cuisines or the outdoors. The couple regularly ride their bikes around the Park Lands’ trails and no week goes by without a trip to their local nature playground with their young grandchild, Charli.
“She loves Marshmallow Park and the Adelaide Himeji Garden here in the south,” said Annie. “I’ve also taken her to North Adelaide’s Helicopter Playground.”
For this sociable couple, one of the best outcomes of moving into their city apartment has been recapturing a sense of community they both experienced growing up in smaller country towns.
“We feel like we’re living in a vertical village here,” said Annie. “When we first moved in people would stop in the foyer and introduce themselves which was nice. Now, every Friday, weather permitting, a whole group of us get together out on the terrace to share some nibbles, a drink and have a laugh.”