New landowner’s ‘grand plan’ for Brighton
Monday, 29 January 2024
A property investor who has bought up 12 New Brighton Mall properties has major plans for the area, despite ongoing store closures.
Martini Investments, owned by long-term Christchurch residential investor Liz Harris and sons Robbie and Chris, has recently added the Surfside Mall retail arcade to its portfolio.
The covered arcade, on Brighton Mall, brings the number of the company’s properties at the beach end of the mall to 12. Their land covers almost 8000m² on both sides of the mall.
Robbie Harris said they were working on a major redevelopment plan.
“For one of the first times in probably half a century, the chance to completely redevelop that end of Brighton Mall is here,” Harris said.
“There is a grand plan. We have been working through some exciting designs and shoulder tapping people, but very soon we’ll have final designs.
“It’s going to be something very different for Christchurch.”
The plan will include the Greater New Brighton Community Leadership Group’s village green project announced last year. This would use land leased from Martini Investments near the Pierside Building.
The group’s chairperson, Robbie Baigent, said they were working in with Martini Investments and hoped to reveal updated plans soon.
The village green project is being funded by a Canterbury Earthquake Appeal Trust grant.
The past few years have seen key New Brighton commercial sites change hands as developers have struggled to gain traction with projects.
Previous owners of the Martini Investments sites include Hayden Clavis, who planned an entertainment complex on the corner of Brighton Mall and Marine Pde, and Antony Gough, owner of The Terrace hospitality precinct in the central city.
Harris said their development would include cafes, bars and other food outlets, entertainment, lifestyle-type business such as surf and cycle stores, and sheltered spaces to sit.
“We’ve put a lot of time and thought and research gone into understanding the current state of New Brighton, and what its potential is.”
He said they were inspired by the character of early Brighton, which attracted visitors long before the Saturday shopping boom of the mid-20th century, which ended with vacant premises.
“It doesn’t need to be a retail centre. It used to be about the experiences you could have at the coast, there were outdoor concerts, it was a destination. We are going back to that.
“There’s nothing inherently wrong with Brighton. But even when you get a lot of visitors there, like for the kite festival, it’s fragmented down the mall, and when you walk along it’s like tumbleweed.
“If you invest in the right thing it works. Christchurch needs a major beachfront hospitality hub.”
Harris said examples such as Riverside Market in the central city showed how a comprehensive development could succeed.
He said Brighton Mall failed to attract many of the 16,000 local residents, with many going elsewhere for amenities. They wanted to change that, he said.
Major townhouse developments are under way in New Brighton by developers including Te Pakau Maru, Williams Corporation, and DGM Group.
Two tenants in the Surfside Mall have recently closed - New Brighton Wholefoods (formerly Bin Inn), and XOXO Cafe. Other recent closures in New Brighton have included Hammer Hardware, and Level One cafe, both Martini Investments’ tenants, and Kai Kitchen. Both Level One and Kai Kitchen went into liquidation.
Harris said they were “unlucky” to have lost tenants. The new redevelopment would position businesses to work well together, he said.
Nikki Griffen, co-owner of Brighton Wholesale Foods, said business had been hard, the Surfside Mall had become run down, and foot traffic had fallen.
“A lot of people are moving into Brighton but they don’t go shopping there,” she said.
“Only time will tell how things go there. There is some exciting stuff happening like the village green, and if you have events it will bring people in.
“I think the Harris family being the landlord is a great thing. They can make some decisions and get things done. But it’s a matter of getting the right things in.”
Brian Donovan, of the New Brighton Residents Association, said the local business association had “drifted out of existence” and owners needed support to realise their potential.
It had been hard for businesses to “eke out an existence”, he said.
“The future of New Brighton is small, unique businesses. People used to come for the experience, and we need to get back to that.”
The council has already spent money as part of the New Brighton Centre Master Plan in an attempt to revitalise the suburb. This included building the waterfront He Puna Taimoana hot pools and a children’s playground. It also bought and demolished the former Westpac site to create a public walkway.