Invercargill's city block development on track for May 2022 opening

Sunday, 30 May 2021

The Invercargill Central city block development, pictured from the top of the Kelvin Hotel looking west.

Invercargill’s major CBD development is on track for a May 2022 opening.

Invercargill Central Ltd project director Geoff Cotton has confirmed they are on schedule to get the Farmers department store and surrounding retail stores open in 12 months.

They also have an obligation to ensure 250 of the close to 700 car parks within the city block development will be available at the same time as Farmers opening.

To date, just Farmers and Starbucks have been publicly confirmed as retail tenants.

The Invercargill Central city block development, pictured from Esk St looking at the old Southland Times building facade propped up with the new Farmers building being built around it.

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Invercargill Central CBD development, pictured from the top of the Kelvin Hotel looking west.

Farmers will be located where the old Southland Times facade is beside the Kelvin Hotel. A childcare centre will be situated above Farmers.

Cotton said the winter months could provide some challenges work-wise, but he was confident they would still remain on schedule for the May 2022 opening.

Amalgamated Builders Ltd has about 100 workers on site at the moment working on the project, Cotton said.

After Farmers, and a section of the car park, is open in May next year, the food court and retail precinct further along Esk St is expected to open late next year or early 2023.

The Invercargill Central city block development, pictured from Tay street looking north into what will be the new car parking building.

The HW Richardson Group office tower on the corner of Esk St and Dee St, which is a separate development, is expected to be opened at the same time late next year or early 2023.

The HWR Tower will house about 100 of the companies staff.

Another milestone for the city block development is expected in the next month with the support structures holding up the saved facades on Esk St to be removed.

Cotton said it would mean they will not have to work around the support structures, but it would also allow some touch-up work to be done on the three facades.

Invercargill Central Ltd held an open day recently which allowed the public to take a walk through the development to get a better understanding of the work that has been completed to date.

Cotton said close to 2500 people took up the opportunity which highlighted the public interest in the project.

The city block development was Invercargill’s biggest construction project since the smelter was built at Tiwai Point, Cotton said.