Discussions with potential Invercargill city block development tenants ongoing

Sunday, 3 January 2021

Scott O'Donnell with one of the first bricks to fall in the Invercargill CBD block demolition. New tenants should be announced in 2021.

The man behind the major central city development in Invercargill is buoyed by the way the New Zealand economy has rebounded as negotiations with potential tenants for the block continue.

Invercargill Central Ltd is undergoing stage one of a new city block development which will include retail, a food and beverage precinct, and 685 car parks.

The overall development takes up the rectangular block of buildings between Esk and Tay St, bordered by Dee and Kelvin St.

Farmers and Starbucks are the only tenants who have been officially announced to date.

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Farmers will be the anchor retail tenant with Invercargill Central Ltd director Scott O'Donnell saying they have eyed an April 2022 opening date.

Negotiations with other tenants were ongoing and didn’t expect to be in a position to confirm any further outlets until at least February or March.

“There’s not really anything we can announce at the moment.’’

With the opening date still close to 16 months away O’Donnell said they did have time on their side.

He added that most of the prospective tenants would focus on the Christmas, New Year period before looking to confirm any decisions.

O’Donnell was confident with the situation given how New Zealand had responded following the pressures of Covid-19.

There were all sorts of dire predictions, but O’Donnell said the outlook was much brighter now.

Even amongst that doom and gloom O’Donnell did not flinch, in regard to his belief that pushing with the project was the right thing to do.

“It just has to be done, we have to get on with it.”

Meanwhile, Gaire Thompson, the owner of the Dee St building which Farmers currently occupy, is still working on possible plans to try to fill that building when Farmers do depart.

He said he hasn’t yet had confirmation from Farmers of the departure but Thompson wanted to make sure he had plan B in place to ensure it didn’t sit empty for a long period.

“We’ve got a couple of interested parties that we are working with,” Thompson said.

He didn't expect they would be able to fill the building with one tenant, as is the case with Farmers.

Instead, Thompson will try to attract multiple tenants and create a mall type complex, but without a lot of the overheads that attached to traditional malls, he said.

“The hardest thing will be getting the top floor filled. But once we get the bottom floor sorted the top floor should follow,’’ Thompson said.

Thompson has previously stated a belief that the new inner city block development, backed by the Invercargill City Council, will struggle to attract the number of tenants needed to make it viable.

He still holds that view and was also concerned that what tenants it did attract would simply leave buildings empty in other parts of the CBD.