New lane link and salvaged railway clock for farmers market

Friday, 6 September 2019

A recycled railway clock and a new laneway through to Ballantynes department store are among features revealed ahead of the Riverside Farmers Market's opening late this month.

Tenants in the new central Christchurch market building are now fitting out their stalls, shops and eateries ready for a delayed September 30 opening date.

The Riverside Farmers Market development under construction.

The new market, on the corner of Oxford Tce and Lichfield St by Cashel St's new Riverside shops, will house about 80 businesses in what will be a first for the city.

The $80 million complex has been developed and is owned by Richard Peebles, Mike Percasky and Kris Inglis.

Then-mayor Bob Parker with the old railway station building on Moorhouse Ave after the September 2010 earthquake.

Clock faces salvaged from the demolished Moorhouse Ave former railway station are being installed at the market. The clock became a time stamp marking the moment of the first big quake, freezing at 4.36am on September 4, 2010.

A map of the Colombo St, Cashel St, Lichfield St and Oxford Tce block in central Christchurch, showing new buildings and a laneway.

Richard Peebles, left, Mike Percasky, and Kris Inglis, the developers and owners of the Riverside Farmers Market.

* Cashel St block shaping up with 50 businesses for new buildings

* Christchurch container mall gone, first new building embraces lanes culture

* Ballantynes to shift departments to make way for construction**

Next a laneway will be created linking up all the Cashel St properties on the block from Riverside to Ballantynes.

To get the walkway through, Peebles has recently bought two more sites, a Cashel St building and the Lichfield St property backing onto it.

This lane inside the Riverside complex connects to a walkway through the rest of the block.

This land, previously owned by long-standing city landlord Paddy Cotter, will also hold the Riverside car park.

Other landlords on the block have also chipped in with land to create the walkway, and to pay to shift an electrical substation blocking the route into the city council's parking building nearby.

Peebles said the laneway was key to connecting up the block, and bringing life into the spaces at the rear of buildings. He estimated the donated land was worth $4m to $5m, plus the cost of paving.

It is due to be finished by October.

'We always had the design for the lane through the middle of our development, but it was going nowhere,' he said.

'We got all the [Cashel St] owners together and got everyone to sacrifice 3 metres off the back of their land.'

From Riverside, the lane will pass the new market car park and the rear of a row of Cashel St shops owned by the Yee family, Rob Logie, and Dennis Sunderland. It will cross Plymouth Lane by the city council parking building, then join Guthrey Lane and link up with Ballantynes' side entrance.

While the lane was part of the original Government blueprint for the Cashel St block, Peebles said that without any public finding available, it 'was only made possible by the vision and generosity of the local landowners'.