Apartments to help rejuvenate struggling Lower Hutt CBD

Wednesday, 11 November 2020

Developer Kevin Melville is converting an old commercial building into 40 apartments which he hopes will help rejuvenate the Hutt CBD.

The conversion of a former commercial building into 40 new apartments could be a much-needed shot in the arm for Lower Hutt’s struggling CBD.

Developer Kevin Melville said the $15 million project, alongside other apartment complexes, would establish a new inner-city community that would help drive business in the central city.

He has been involved in building more than 250 apartments at six different sites on Jackson St in nearby Petone which has developed thriving hospitality and retail scenes over the last decade. Central Lower Hutt had the same potential.

Consent was signed off for the project at 195 High St this week. A mix of single, twin and three-bedroom units would be put in the existing building which was being revamped by Solari Architects. The development would bring up to 100 people into the central city.

An image of what the new apartment block in central Lower Hutt will look like.

* An inner city Lower Hutt KiwiBuild could be yours for $500,000 - or less

* KiwiBuild comes to Wellington with six-storey apartment block in Mt Cook

The Wellington City Council is being criticised for slapping a weekly rent of $580 on new apartments that are meant to be affordable for essential workers.

The units would be ready in about 14 months.

Melville said while the units would be for lease only, they would open up more housing in the valley. Hutt City Council estimates 9606 new houses will be needed to be built in the city by 2047 to keep up with population growth.

He said the popularity of Wellington-based developer Ian Cassels’ 29-unit High Street Quarter two doors away showed there was considerable interest in apartment living. In November last year, all but one of Cassels’ apartments sold the day they went on the market.

Cassels agreed the developments would be a boost for local businesses. The High Street Quarter would be complete by the end of 2021, he said.

South End Business Group chairman Michael Gray, who owns Buzz Cafe on High St, and is an advocate for local shops said the apartments were “the start of the resurgence” of the CBD.

Gray said the area, once the city’s main shopping precinct, had long been considered “dead and dusted”.

“The decline started when [Queensgate] mall started growing. People started shopping at the mall, but not the high street.”

Retailers have long complained of being unable to compete with the mall’s free parking and wide range of shops under a single roof.

Melville said central city apartments would link in with the council’s RiverLink plan to develop a promenade on the Hutt River, which would make the area an attractive place to live and visit.

Hutt City Mayor Campbell Barry said the council was on-track to lodge consent applications for RiverLink next year.