Restaurants on the menu for new building

Sal’s Authentic New York Pizza, Mexican eatery Zambrero and Japanese restaurant Aki Kitchen are to set up shop in a new building under construction in central Richmond.

It is the final stage of the fourstage Upper Queen development by Nelson-based family business Gibbons.

The development, between Queen and Talbot streets, started in 2013 with a block of stores including anchor tenant Kmart. Other tenants in the Upper Queen development include The Warehouse, Coupland’s

Bakeries, Columbus Coffee, and Bed Bath & Beyond. There are also some non-retail businesses in the twostorey buildings of stages two and three.

Gibbons chief executive Scott Gibbons said the new building would offer outdoor seating and ‘‘prime Queen St frontage, allowing plenty of space for people to relax and enjoy the new eateries’’.

Aki Kitchen is by the same team behind the Aki Sushi store in the Upper Queen development and the Aki Sushi store in Morrison St, Nelson.

Sal’s pizzerias and Zambrero restaurants already operate at key locations throughout New Zealand, including Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown. Their stores in the Upper Queen development will be their first locations in Nelson and Tasman.

The three restaurants, which Gibbons described as ‘‘a muchneeded addition to the Richmond eatery scene’’, are due to open in early 2020.

‘‘[There will be] plenty of space for people to relax and enjoy the new eateries.’’

Scott Gibbons

STEPHANIE MILLAR An artist’s impression of the building under construction as part of the final stage of the Upper Queen development in central Richmond, from which three new restaurants – pizza, Mexican and Japanese – will operate.