Developers plan to demolish Farmers
Developers are planning to demolish half of the former Farmers store in Cuba St, Wellington, after months of secrecy about the future of the building.
Wellington City Council records show Cuba Dixon Redevelopment, a subsidiary of property firm Willis Bond & Co, wants to demolish three buildings on the Victoria St side, which house Farmers’ homeware section and some car parks.
Following the demolition, the site is expected to remain empty for up to three years, during which time it will act as a construction site for the strengthening of the heritage side of the complex facing Cuba St.
Willis Bond & Co director David McGuinness said the three buildings had to be demolished as the structure was ‘‘compromised’’.
All three buildings earmarked for demolition were built in 1962, while the heritage-listed building on Cuba St, which is being retained, strengthened and refurbished, was built in 1914.
Cuba Dixon Redevelopment has obtained resource consent from the council to demolish the buildings, but will need building consent to get the final green light to start work.
A note in June last year revealed Willis Bond & Co planned to redevelop Farmers Cuba St as a mix of retail, hospitality, residential and office space.
The department store has been closed since the 7.8-magnitude earthquake in November 2016.
Following the demolition, work was expected to begin on the redevelopment of the Cuba St site, including the refurbishment of the Farmers building.
The company is yet to indicate if it would be involved in the redevelopment plans.
McGuinness said details of retailers taking space in the refurbished building would be revealed next week.
According to a council document, soil samples would be taken after demolition to determine if the land underneath is contaminated.
A preliminary assessment revealed potential contamination could have come from chemical storage and a transformer.
Before Farmers moved into the building, the site was occupied by a draper from the 1890s to 1950s.
Willis Bond & Co bought the property in 2014, along with the neighbouring property.
Those two sites, combined with the former Deka site on the corner of Cuba and Dixon streets, have a footprint of almost 10,000 square metres, earmarked for major redevelopment.