Disrupting property development
A proposed building in Lyttelton may point the way to better communities. Will Harvie reports.
‘This project is way out of people’s comfort zone,’’ says Camia Young. She reckons about 10 per cent of her audiences get it. ‘‘This is change and change tends to be uncomfortable,’’ she says.
At one level, Young is proposing a straightforward property development. In 2013, she purchased about 975 square metres of land in central Lyttelton and now wants to build a three floor commercial building. She calls it Collett’s Corner after a pharmacy that existed there for decades.
Christchurch has seen plenty of this since the earthquakes. A cashed-up developer has some land, identifies the likely tenants or buyers, builds to suit, and sooner or later makes a profit. But Young doesn’t operate like this. She wants to build communities by building buildings. She wants to create places where people develop a sense of belonging. She also wants an equitable distribution of wealth.
‘‘We believe we can do this through property development,’’ she says.
She wants to disrupt property development.
‘‘We are doing property development as per usual, but we’re adding to it the notion that it is community minded. By community minded, we mean that’s there’s a shared purpose … and its values are aligned with that purpose and it’s got community ownership.’’
If this seems nebulous, look at what’s been accomplished so far.
The land at the corner of London and Oxford streets, diagonally across from the new Lyttelton Primary School, will support a building of about 2300 square metres.
The previous buildings – the heritage Empire Hotel, a low red-and-white building of no distinction, and a small office building – were demolished after the earthquakes.
Young bought the land in 2013 for $630,000. She and like-minded colleagues created a trust called the Ohu Foundation, which espouses the values of community creation. Ohu Development Ltd is the business arm and Collett’s Corner project No. 1.
They went to Lyttelton and asked what sort of building – and what sorts of communities – could thrive there. What did Lyttleton need?
Earlier this week, they discussed the results of the ‘‘listening phase’’ at a public meeting.
One proposed community got the headlines. The building would attract people who were keen on a Roman-style spa and baths in the basement, and might want a therapeutic massage or physio.
On the ground floor, a souk-like market would be operated by stall holders from Lyttelton Farmers Market and others. Groceries and prepared food would be sold, as well as crafts, plants, clothes and the like.
Upstairs there would be a ‘‘unique hotel’’ with self-contained apartments, some flash rooms and backpacker-style dorms.
The top floor would be a ‘‘quirky cinema with views towards the hills and harbour, reflecting and connecting to Lyttelton’s creative scene’’.
This proposal got named Attraction and would make Lyttelton more of a destination than now. Visitors would stay a while.
The second idea, named Intergenerational, would cater for the needs of Lyttelton’s seniors. Those aged 65-85 are isolated by the hills and stairs of the township and don’t get out as much as they’d like. So Ohu would build two floors of senior accommodation, mixed with some rooms for digital nomads who work their devices from anywhere in the world.
The ground floor would include an integrated co-working space, restaurant and shop.
It would be ‘‘designed to bring the community together to share conversation and kai. At the heart of the space will be an elders circle to inspire sharing stories’’.
The basement would house a fleet of electric vehicles, available to residents and visitors.
Over coming months, Ohu will decide which proposal has the most community support – and which makes financial sense.
Then Ohu will raise about $350,000 to fund the design and planning phase. This money will likely be raised on a crowdfunding platform such as PledgeMe. Its founder, Anna Guenther, is an Ohu strategic advisor.
All going well, Ohu will need another $3 million to start construction in 2019 and perhaps another $3m to $5m to finish the project.
The doors would open in 2020. No public money would be needed.
"I think it’s achievable, if it’s [done] over multiple campaigns and over a few years,’’ says Guenther. She points out that Ocho last year raised $2m in 32 hours to keep chocolate-making skills in Dunedin. Ohu can raise money in other ways too.
And the records of Camia Young and her colleagues have to considered.
Young, 43, grew up in Aspen, Colorado, and trained as an architect. She worked for some of Europe’s most prestigious architecture firms before finding herself in post-quake Christchurch.
She quickly fell in with the Transitional Movement and designed the Pallet Pavilion, the blue, open-air venue that activated Gap Filler’s land at Kilmore and Durham streets in the CBD from December 2012 until May 2014.
‘‘We weren’t really building a building, although that was the outcome,’’ Young says of the pavilion now. ‘‘We were actually building a community.’’
It was a ‘‘community of people dedicated to bringing vibrancy back to the city centre through creative projects. It gave a place to contribute positively while everything that surrounded the pavilion was in a state of demolition’’, she says.
‘‘The Pallet Pavilion is where I got the idea that we build communities by building buildings,’’ says Young. She’s been ‘‘intoxicated’’ by the idea since.
Later, Young co-founded Exchange Christchurch in a dilapidated warehouse near Lancaster Park. It has production space for artists and craft makers, a showcase space for exhibitions and events, and an entertainment space with cafe and bar.
‘‘Typically you would find those three in separate buildings. What we’ve done is put them together. It’s in that overlap that you get connection,’’ Young says.
‘‘That’s where community happens – in those moments of accidental connection,’’ she says.
XCHC, as it’s known, is still going and looking for bigger premises.
Ohu has more than Young. Among the directors and advisors are chair of the Hillary Institute of International Leadership and the A¯ kina Foundation Anake Goodall, city councillor Raf Manji, and possibly the most connected person in Christchurch, Huia Lambie.
There’s also a phalanx of lawyers trying to sort out how to make community ownership and equitable distribution of wealth work legally.
Investors will probably get shares, but there might have to be a trust in the mix.
She insists we are at the end of the ‘‘extractive age’’ and entering the ‘‘regenerative age’’. Wealth won’t continue to flow up but will be reinvested. Everyone who contributes will get a return, although it may not be cash.
So what will Collett’s Corner look like? Depends on the community, Young says. But it probably won’t be one for the architecture magazines. And she won’t be the lead architect.
A design team will be assembled and she may participate at the beginning. But she expects the community to front.
‘‘My hope is that when you bring a community together you get better architecture. It’s a gamble.
‘‘My sense is that when you have a group of people with a purpose, that purpose will come through in the building.’’