City’s tech hub
REGION: The former Farmers building on Broadway Ave is getting a new lease on life as a burgeoning tech hub. The building may have looked empty, but just out of sight it has been a hive of activity.
The former Farmers building on Palmerston North’s Broadway Ave is getting a new lease on life as a burgeoning tech hub.
The building may have looked empty since Westpac moved out last September, but just out of sight it has been a hive of activity.
The building’s owner Lincoln Charles said the large, open-plan spaces on the second floor had proven popular with tech companies over the past year, and about 200 people worked there.
The offices the companies had built had the sector looking to Broadway as a potential tech hub.
‘‘It wasn’t planned that way ... [but] the old Farmers building has been an excellent test case.’’
Charles owns all but three of the buildings between Wholegrain Organics and Brew Union on Broadway Ave.
Earthquake strengthening renovations on those properties exposed brick, beams and some native timber, which he had planned to largely cover back up to bring in new tenants.
But he started to change his mind when tech company Beta Solutions moved in last September.
Beta chief executive Terry Southern said the building offered a good space to recreate the modern, campus-like offices of tech giants like Google and Tesla.
‘‘It was a shell, just this big, dusty, empty space when we started talking to Lincoln. But he immediately understood what we were thinking of and got on board.’’
The final result has inspired three or four other Palmerston North tech companies Beta works with to consider a potential move to Broadway themselves, he said
‘‘Broadway had a bit of an identity crisis, [although] it’s starting to get a new one for food and hospitality at street level.
‘‘But at level one and above, there’s also a great opportunity to become a tech hub.’’
Charles thought bringing a little bit of silicon valley to the upper levels of the street could add another piece to Broadway’s revival.
And for him, focusing on providing spaces tech and creative companies liked was a better idea than the conventional offices Palmerston North was ‘‘inundated’’ with, he said.
‘‘Now we’re becoming quite popular with tech and software engineers, because we’re doing something a bit different.’’
Integration Technologies chief executive Chris Deere said Palmerston North tech companies had talked about forming a hub of similar businesses for a while.
‘‘There are a lot of advantages to tech companies talking to each other, and being within a close geographical area.’’