Breakthrough housing plan for former eyesore site
Saturday, 9 August 2025
New owners of part of Christchurch’s former saleyards site opposite Hagley Park are planning a multimillion-dollar development with more than 100 homes and a cafe.
Housing developer Growcott Freer has completed the purchase of a 1.6-hectare block at the northern end of the site, which has been vacant for nearly three decades, and is not ruling out buying more.
The deal is something of a breakthrough for the Deans Ave land, which has languished since the city’s stock saleyards, which occupied it since 1874, moved to Canterbury Agricultural Park in Wigram in 1997.
“It’s exciting. It’s a very high-profile site and we want to build some of the best townhouses in Christchurch on it,” Growcott Freer director Nicholas Growcott said.
He said they are yet to finalise their designs and are in pre-consent talks with city council staff.
The overseas-based Chiu family bought the property under the company name Neowell Investments for $5.46 million in 1997. The family also owns the dilapidated Antonio Hall in Riccarton Rd.
The Deans Ave land was once labelled one of the city’s eyesore sites. After public complaints about graffiti, vandalism and rough sleepers, Neowell Investments demolished the remaining structures on the land and tidied it.
After announcing and later abandoning its own $100m development plan with 128 new homes and a hotel on the saleyards land, and the collapse of a plan by JAG Developments to buy and develop it as car yards, Neowell Investments agreed to sell a chunk of the site to Growcott Freer.
The price remains confidential.
The remainder of the saleyards site is still owned by Neowell Investments, including the piece used for a park-and-ride service to Christchurch Hospital.
Growcott Freer, launched in 2018 by Nicholas Growcott and Isaac Freer, has about 20 housing developments completed or in progress in Christchurch.
They include a 72-townhouse development under construction at 888 Colombo St, just south of Bealey Ave.
Neowell spokesman Sam Yao said the sale was made after the company was approached by Growcott Freer, which it considers a good developer. Neowell would “wait and see” whether it would sell more of the land, Yao said.
Freer said they hope to begin construction late next year. They will then develop the whole site in one go as they have done with the Colombo St development, where all but three homes are sold.
He said they will have as many as 80 builders on site at a time to keep progress on track.
“That helps with our risk profile with the bank, and with sales.”
He said they are not deterred by taking on a large, difficult site.
Growcott said they would not build “just a heap of townhouses without garages or parking”.
“It’s really going to be like an inner city subdivision, rather than a multi-unit townhouse development, because we’ve got 16,000m² to develop. It won’t feel so high-density.”
He said like their Colombo St project, the Deans Ave development will have a range of housing styles and community green spaces.
Growcott said they are pleased to be developing the site, after previous attempts had not succeeded. Other developers had unsuccessfully tried to buy the land, he said.
“It’s good that a couple of local guys can have a go at it. We are going to build the type of homes we would like to live in ourselves.”