Retailers try to get message across
‘‘This is a critical phase with the retailers but it is also the last of it and we are all looking forward to the end.’’
‘‘We all know it’s going to be fantastic when it is finished but when is that going to be?’’ a Princes St shop owner asks.
‘‘I’m at the stage that I’m thinking I’ll be lucky if we make it through,’’ the Upper Hutt business owner, who did not want to be identified, said.
Along with several others, the owner is continuing to battle what seems to be a never-ending construction zone outside their doors.
Large signs facing the street hang on the hurricane fencing, which runs along a footpath made barely navigable by throw-down carpets.
The work, which began with the paving of the street’s opposite footpath in January, is part of the city council’s $2.4 million overhaul of the CBD entrance area between the railway station and the Main St shopping - via Princes St.
Let by the council to Higgins Construction, the project was estimated to take 26 weeks, to June.
Problems with the weather and material arriving were cited for delays four months ago but in the latest of extensions, retailers have been told any completion will be mid-to-late October.
‘‘I assure you; we’re open’’, the fence signs announce - both making reference to a 1990s American comedy film and the shop owners’ contemporary plight.
The signs were organised by council economic development manager, Phil Gorman, who has liaised with business owners since the work started.
‘‘I’d designed other signs when the retailers came up with that film catch cry and it’s all about getting the right message across for them,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s trying to put a positive spin on things and make the most of a bad situation.
‘‘There’s at least half a dozen businesses there and with the works on the scale they are it’s pretty easy to get the impression everything is closed.’’
‘‘This is a critical phase with the retailers but it is also the last of it and we are all looking forward to the end,’’ Gorman said.
The business owner said the construction work had been ‘‘devastating’’ to trade.
‘‘I’ve been told three different finishing times and we’re still waiting.
‘‘It’s hugely affected the foot traffic but also we’ve lost the shop front car parking where people used to stop and run in and out. There has been constant problems with noise and the dust, it’s tough going.’’
The work is to improve the city’s main pedestrian entrance.
While close to the retail and commercial area, the railway station’s foot connections had long been identified as poor.
The Fergusson Dr improvements opposite the station, include realigning pedestrian crossings, repositioning the main traffic rounding and new kerbing and paving.
Underground drainage is being installed in Princes St with the redesign featuring wider footpaths, altered parking and improved public spaces with new street furniture, landscaping and planting.