First facade in Invercargill CBD demolition work comes down

Sunday, 16 February 2020

CBD demolition at the rear of the Kelvin Hotel looking through to Tay St.

Demolition work in Invercargill's CBD redevelopment area continued at the weekend with the first facade coming down.

It was part of the old Caroline Eve clothing store at 54 Tay St. The removal of that building and the small store next to it, Rugby Sports and Leisure, went according to plan, CBD redevelopment project manager Geoff Cotton said.

Work planned for this week includes the demolition of the old Zookeepers and Macpac buildings in Tay St.

* Invercargill CBD block demolition halted

Two piles of rubble are left at 54 Tay St, Invercargill, after the old Caroline Eve and Rugby Sports and Leisure buildings were demolished on Saturday as part of the city's CBD redevelopment.

* $200 million makeover for Invercargill CBD**

The former Southland Times building will be demolished but its historic façade is to be retained and attached to a new building.

The facades at 35 Esk Street, built pre-1909, and where the Bonsai restaurant and Quest store previously operated, along with the Esk St entrance of the Cambridge Arcade, will also be retained.

Buildings in the block which won't be demolished include the Kelvin Hotel, Reading Cinemas and the old Bank of New South Wales building.

Cotton said demolition work was 15 to 20 per cent completed.

'Archaeological work, below the ground, hasn't started yet … that's a key item to find out, what's underneath.'

Between 18 and 20 workers are employed on the site but by the end of the year the number should be about 150.

Cotton thought in the first three months of 2021 there would probably be between 300 and 400.

'It's all going very well. The way the demolition was planned is happening and not causing any significant disruption to businesses and the town … and obviously that's the way we're going to keep it,' Cotton said.

He added every attempt was being made to catch up for lost time following Nelson-based property manager Gaire Thompson filing an interim injunction against the Invercargill City Council and HWCP in the High Court at Invercargill in December.

It delayed the start of demolition work, from January 6 to January 23.