Massive car park planned for top of CBD development
Wednesday, 10 January 2018
A covered 1000-space car park will be built on top of a multi-million-dollar shopping precinct planned for the Invercargill CBD, the company proposing the development says.
HWCP Management Ltd director Scott O'Donnell, when asked about its plans for a carpark on the site of the CBD development, revealed it was in the pipeline.
'It will include a 1000 space car park.
'We hope to have retail and other things on the ground and first floor and parking would be on top,' he said.
'We aren't sure how many levels we will need but we would like something like 1000 carparks.'
'Drive in, park your car under cover, you have got the theatre, shops, restaurants …'
HWCP Management Limited - a joint venture between council-owned Invercargill City Property Limited and H.W. Richardson Group - this month revealed its plans to build a massive retail, apartment and office development in the inner city block consisting of Esk, Dee, Tay and Kelvin streets.
The ambitious transformation of the Invercargill CBD may cost close to $100 million and see the demolition of the majority of buildings in the block, to make way for the new development, O'Donnell said.
The buildings not being considered for demolition in the block are the Kelvin Hotel, movie theatre and troopers memorial building [former home of the Pumpkin Patch], none of which are owned by HWCP.
Two of the buildings planned for demolition are category 2 heritage listed - the former Southland Times building on Esk St and the Government Life/Brown Owl buildings on the corner of Esk and Dee streets, which has the Night 'N Day store underneath.
Category 2 means 'of historical or cultural significance or value', Heritage New Zealand said.
The Government Life/Brown Owl buildings were not in a good state of repair, O'Donnell said.
Engineers were due to report on the structural integrity of those two buildings and The Southland Times building in several weeks.
The Southland Times building had a 'pretty' facade, but the structure behind it had been 'chopped and changed' over the years.
He wanted a clean plate for the new development, and retaining old facades in new developments did not always work, he said.
Before any demolition of the three heritage buildings could take place an extensive process needed to be worked through.
O'Donnell said he was a big supporter of heritage, and had approached the Community Trust of Southland - independent of HWCP - about funding to retain some of Invercargill's heritage buildings.
But the two heritage buildings in the CBD block targeted for the new development were not among them.
'We just don't think those two work economically on the CBD block …whereas there's a lot of other heritage buildings we would like to keep up.'
The proposed CBD development was a three to five year project, he said.
Invercargill City Council senior policy planner Liz Devery said resource consent was required to demolish the three heritage listed buildings and another 15 buildings, which were deemed sites of local significance, in the block targeted for the new development.
But a higher threshold was needed to demolish the three heritage listed buildings.
The council needed to be satisfied the effects of demolition on the three heritage buildings would be minor and it would not be contrary to the objectives and policies in the district plan.
'Effectively, under the RMA we have to protect heritage [buildings] from inappropriate subdivision use or development, so the question is really whether this development is appropriate or not.'
'It's up to the applicant to establish whether what they are doing is appropriate.'
A decision on whether the public will be consulted about demolishing the buildings will be made when the application for demolition is lodged.
It is unclear if the council will preside over the application, given its potential conflict of interest, Devery said.