Shop owners disappointed over plans for dilapidated Wellington mall

Saturday, 23 November 2024

Wellington shop owners have been left disappointed following a public meeting on the future of Johnsonville’s commercial centre and its ailing mall.

The meeting was called by councillors to inform the public of plans for future investment in the dilapidated mall, which now has many empty shops.

A report from the Wellington City Council is due back in March, examining possible legal levers to compel Stride Property to sell or invest in the site.

Shop owners at a dilapidated Wellington mall were disappointed following a public meeting this week, after councillors provided no new information on what could be done to upgrade the Johnsonville Shopping Centre.

Councillors Tony Randle, Ben McNulty and Ray Chung called the meeting to outline future plans for Johnsonville, including the mall, whose owner, investment management firm Stride Property, has stalled development for decades.

During the meeting, McNulty said a report due back in March would inform councillors whether they could use legal levers like the Public Works Act or Urban Development Act to compel Stride to do “something slash anything” to the centre.

However, Scheckter’s Deli owner, Steven Scheckter, whose lease at the mall will expire in August next year, said he had heard the plan already and was “sceptical” the council would get involved given it was already “debt ridden”.

“I do not believe the [notice of] motion will do anything. There would be an uproar, like what happened with Reading Cinema,” Scheckter told Stuff following the meeting on Wednesday night.

The last time Stride undertook any major work at the shopping centre was in 1993 for $5.5 million, when the firm was still called DNZ Property. In 2006, another attempt to upgrade the building was made, but resource consent was denied.

In the almost two decades since, there were two other bids to upgrade the mall, however both times Stride cited economic conditions for deciding against the planned improvements.

In the current climate it would “not make sense” for Stride to undertake redevelopment, Scheckter said, which disappointed him given the mall was “downbeat” with more than a dozen shops now empty.

“They are making a small return and are happy with that. At the end of the day Stride is a corporation and the sole job of a corporation is to give a return to its shareholders,” he said.

No one from Stride attended the meeting, however in a statement the firm said it was “engaged in ongoing discussions with Wellington City Council regarding possible future development options for Johnsonville Shopping Centre.”

It added it was “not in a position” to give an update, but was “committed to keeping all investors and stakeholders equally updated with information around the proposed Johnsonville development, and will provide further detail when appropriate.”

The hold Stride has over Johnsonville was also raised in the meeting, with the investment firm owning 91% of the land within the three main shopping streets in the suburb.

More green space was “high on a list of priorities” for local residents, according to the Wellington City Council’s chief planning officer, Liam Hodgetts, however it was “restricted by ownership of Stride”.

“Does Stride own that much property [in Johnsonville] that it can stop these developments?” Local resident, John, asked during the question and answer session after the meeting.

Hodgetts said it “depended on the development”, but the council had to “work with Stride” and had a “good relationship” with the company, even though it was based in Auckland.

John told Stuff he believed Stride was “landbanking” in Johnsonville, and that shops within the mall “probably covered their rates” while the company made a profit.

“The value of the mall has probably trebled since it was first bought,” he said.

Local resident and secondary school teacher Jayesh Morar, who also attended the meeting, said the mall was in desperate need of an upgrade and its state was “disheartening”.

“I grew up in these parts and the mall was the heart. School children used to go there after school and I don’t see them when I go to the mall any more,” he said.

However, McNulty said the “best chance” the council had was the Urban Development Act, which he called a “persuasive piece of legislation”.

The process would involve central government working with Stride and the council and could enable the building to become a mixed use property.

Failing that, and if Stride refused to sell, there could be a “public acquisition ” of the land, however ideally the council would not “own the mall”.

“I don’t think Stride wants to own the mall either. There is a balance and Stride has the right to run the property into the ground, but that is detrimental to the whole suburb. We are giving this a red hot crack,” he said.

Scheckter, however, was unsure of the proposal, and said the reality was the council was at the mercy of Stride for any upgrades to central Johnsonville.

“Of the total commercial land, Stride holds the majority, so whatever it decides to do with it, dictates Johnsonville’s future,” he said.

An earlier version of this story suggested the lease at the mall for Scheckter’s Deli expired in August. It will expire in August 2025. (Amended 7.40am, November 23, 2024)