Sol Square building will be back

A key building in Christchurch’s once-popular Sol Square is being brought back to life by its new owner.

The former Livingspace building in Lichfield St, once home to Minx restaurant and a budget hotel, has been sold to Christchurch property investor and landlord Liz Harris.

It forms part of the laneway hospitality block wrecked in the February earthquake.

Harris agreed to pay $2 million for the heritage building but had to wait for a legal battle between interests connected with developer Dave Henderson and other parties to be resolved before she got clear title in August.

Harris’ daughter, Jenna Dwan, who is managing the restoration project, said the building would return to offering short-term, selfcontained accommodation once repairs and refurbishment were completed. The building, which needed major structural work, would probably be leased to an accommodation operator.

It was transformed into a 110-room accommodation business by Henderson, had been stripped and cleaned up and was ready for the main work to begin, Dwan said. A main contractor had been appointed.

It was a family tradition to be ‘‘hands-on’’ in the renovation work.

‘‘I’m happier on a building site than I am in the office.’’

She expected the job would be finished in 18 months and, although coy about the bill, said it was in the millions.

Built for the Wellington Woollen Manufacturing Company in 1919 and previously owned by Henderson-linked company Lichfield Ventures, in liquidation since 2010, the building has been vacant since the Christchurch earthquakes.