New $130m building complex planned for central Christchurch

Saturday, 10 May 2025

“It’s a bloody exciting development” is how Christchurch property developer Richard Peebles describes his new $130 million central city project.

To be called Downtown, the 20-building complex will be the first large-scale mixed-use development for the city.

Its collection of three to five storey buildings will contain hospitality outlets, shops, offices and 87 apartments including penthouses, all built around laneways and green spaces on a 4800m2 city block.

An artist's impression of the new Downtown development to be built in central Christchurch by the Peebles Group.

The site for the project is bordered by Cashel, Manchester, Lichfield streets and Huanui Lane. What used to be Bedford Row will be revived as part of the development and link it to One NZ Stadium a block away.

Peebles said they hope to start work in April next year and be finished by October 2027.

Richard Peebles describes his new project as “bloody exciting”.

Peebles company, the Peebles Group, has an agreement to buy the land from the Crown, for a price not yet revealed. The site is one of the superlots in the city’s east frame set aside for residential development as an anchor rebuild project after the earthquakes.

'We were looking across there and thought, ‘this area is really going ahead’, Peebles said.

Downtown’s buildings will be between three and five storeys high.

“We really wanted to do a true mixed-use development, with retail and hospitality on the ground floor, offices above that, and residential on top.”

He said that while the east frame’s residential developments bring people into the central city, they do not really activate the area.

He sees Downtown as “a hub of urban energy, commerce and community” with world-class amenities, and promises it will be transformational.

“Everybody has talked about doing mixed use in Christchurch, but it really hasn’t been done well, or on this scale.

“We wanted that urban cool”.

The Peebles Group has been working on refining the concept with Crown Infrastructure Delivery, the Government agency in charge of the east frame, and has just lodged resource consent for the bulk of the project with Christchurch City Council.

Eighty-seven apartments, including 23 penthouses, will be part of the project.

Crown Infrastucture Delivery had been seeking expressions of interest from developers keen to take on the land.

The Peebles Group has already developed Little High on High St and Riverside market in Cashel St with the help of development partners, plus the buildings alongside them, and The Guthrey Centre next to Ballantynes.

“We know we can deliver them really quickly and efficiently. This is a big project,” he said of Downtown,

Downtonwn will be bordered by Cashel, Manchester and Lichfield streets and Huanui Lane.

The company will put up the 18 mixed-use buildings, all with penthouse apartments on top.

They will partner with a specialised residential developer, not yet chosen, to put up two five-storey apartment buildings which will bookend the block and contain 64 of the apartments.

Peebles said his company will keep their buildings, leasing out the homes and commercial spaces.

They will manage the complex, and activate Bedford Row with markets and coffee carts, he said. Tenants will include flagship and premium retail stores, local artisans, and food and drink outlets, with spaces for both large and small office tenants.

The buildings will be a mixture of modern and heritage-inspired.

Peebles said it is a “once-in-a lifetime” opportunity to create a thriving precinct, and a community.

“I was thinking I wouldn’t do any more big developments, but I was talked into this one. It’s a great spot.”

He said the environment around Downtown, with the stadium to be finished next year, laneways, wide footpaths, and open spaces such as Rauora Park, “will be amazing”.