Question mark hangs over future of Nelson cafe’s council-owned site
“We are aware of [Zumo’s] interest in buying the property, but we have also had other parties expressing an interest.” Nigel Philpott
Nelson City Council chief executive
A business owner has questioned why the Nelson City Council was quick to make an inner-city property deal with a grocery business while overlooking his own requests to buy a nearby site.
On March 16, the council announced that Connings Food Market would open a pop-up fruit and vegetable store in Wakatu Square. The business would lease the site from the council with the option to buy the building – and the land beside it, comprising 69 to 101 Achilles Ave – to build a food market.
The news came weeks after Kāinga Ora announced it had scrapped plans to build a mixed social and affordable housing development at the site, saying the plan was not viable. The Crown agency’s plans had also encompassed 42 Rutherford St, the home of Zumo Coffee House, across the road from Achilles Ave.
Allen Chambers, who leases 42 Rutherford St and owns Zumo Coffee House, said he had repeatedly expressed interest over the years in buying the site.
He forwarded Stuff an email from 2012, in which he had told the council that “a sale would provide the opportunity to take Zumo Nelson from the marginally iconic to the truly iconic. Nelson would certainly benefit both financially and intangibly.”
Chambers took over the Zumo business in 2012 after its previous owner ran into debt.
In 2017, he was challenged by a former employee over unpaid wages and was ordered by the Employment Relations Authority to pay $10,000.
In 2019, he failed to overturn the previous ERA order. Weeks later, his company, Zumo Retail Nelson, went into liquidation.
In 2022, Chambers closed the cafe, citing a “shallow talent pool”. Last year, it reopened under new management.
Council chief executive Nigel Philpott said no decisions had been made about the
site at 42 Rutherford St. “We are aware of [Zumo’s] interest in buying the property, but we have also had other parties expressing an interest,” he said.
A decision on the site’s future would depend on engagement and design work for the council’s Bridge to Better infrastructure project, Philpott said.
“This may result in changes to the intersection design, pedestrian islands and the location of pedestrian crossings that may affect which areas of the site are sold.”
The council had moved swiftly on the Connings proposal at Achilles Ave “because it was a new venture for the city and came with significant additional investment”, he said.
The decision to broker the Connings deal was made by the council during “confidential business” discussions on March 7.
Chambers has been an outspoken opponent of the sale of 42 Rutherford St to Kāinga Ora. In 2019, he ran for a council seat with promises to “stop the nonsense”, and he has posted news articles on his website about detrimental effects of social housing.
In his public submission on the proposed Kāinga Ora development in 2021, Chambers acknowledged his “business interests” in the site and outlined his objections. “There is already more than enough crime here in Nelson,” the submission said. “Do you really want to invite more into the CBD?”