Kassis Homes "dream big" plans for Castle Hill: Five minutes with Sam Kassis
Grand Reve, Castle Hill's most distinguishable apartment development, was some seven years in planning for the award-winning developer Kassis Homes and its founder, Sam Kassis.
His reputation locally precedes him. He's been the top home builder for over three decades in the Hills District area, with homes he's built over 20 years ago still reselling now for suburb records.
And now he wants to do it all over again in the apartment space. Grand Reve isn't Sam's first multi-res project, but the Castle Hill development will set a new benchmark even for what he's produced previously.
"We want to create a landmark," Kassis says, working on the project with his business partner Romio Georges.
The goal for Grand Reve, which translates to "dream big" in French, was to bring something completely different to the apartment market, something Kassis has been doing with the houses he's been creating for years.
One of the biggest points of difference Grand Reve offers is its luxury inclusions. All of the apartments at Grand Reve feature Wolf appliances, with the large two and three-bedroom options also including Sub-Zero refrigeration systems as standard inclusions
Kassis said they sat down with a number of suppliers and they showed them the packages that they offer higher density developments, but something didn't quite sit right.
"It just didn't feel right," Kassis says, adding that the whole goal of Grand Reve was to be different.
"We didn't want to do the same as what everyone else was doing."
So Kassis approached the high-end appliance retailer Wolf and Sub-Zero, who he has been using for 30 years in his luxury home building career. The premium appliance selection is usually reserved for more boutique projects in inner-city locations - apartments that carry a hefty price tag to match the calibre of appliance.
"We're the only development north of the city and surrounds to be using Wolf and Sub-Zero appliances," Kassis noted, adding that the team at Wolf also said they never fit out developments of this scale, and that "no one under the age of 45 has Wolf appliances."
The apartments are also fitted with Parisi tapware, brass feature fixtures, and stone kitchen bench tops.
"It's a high-end finish in every apartment, for an affordable price point," Kassis adds.
It's not just the interiors that are striking a chord with buyers.
The development was cleverly designed to allow for apartment amalgamations, which McGrath Projects Associate Director Adam Sparkes says has been popular among those buyers looking for more space.
He is in discussions with a local buyer to amalgamate a number of apartments to create a super-apartment, with over 300 sqm of internal space. That could sell for just under $4 million, which would set the apartment record for the whole of the Hills District, and add another record to Kassis' long line of top prices.
There was an inadvertent helping hand from the local council along the way when it came to the size and scale of the apartments on offer at Grand Reve.
Before the onset of COVID, the local council put a condition in the approval process that around a quarter of the development had to be dedicated to larger two and three-bedroom apartments, which has been a blessing given the demand for bigger space in the home since the pandemic changed the way we live.
"We have so much interest in the larger apartments, which offer sizes not seen in comparable developments in the area," Sparkes says.
"The way the development has been designed, there's flexibility for amalgamations throughout the building, not just the penthouse level," Sparkes added.
"Ultimately it will be budget that dictates whether buyers can amalgamate toward the higher levels of the building or further down. The fact we can offer that amalgamation option throughout the building, all the way to the ground level, is a major plus for all buyers."
Even without the amalgamation potential, the development offers 37 different floorplan configurations to suit as many buyer needs as possible.
Sparkes says the locals who are visiting the onsite display are well aware of what Sam has produced in the surrounding areas in the housing space.
"There's been a number of people who have either bought a Kassis-built home before, or are a friend of a friend, and have already seen what the Kassis team has produced previously and know they will deliver something special again."
Everything Kassis is putting together at Grand Reve gives buyers confidence they're buying in to something which is timeless, both in its design and its build quality.
Grand Reve offers something completely unique for the burgeoning Hills District suburb.
