Homestead seeks creative baristas

‘‘I'm waiting for people to come along with their picnic blankets and sit out in the park with great, cheap coffee, ice creams, and smoothies.’’

For more than a year, the fresh smell of coffee has been absent at a South Auckland arts centre.

At Nathan Homestead in Manurewa, residents want a place to perch and read the newspaper while getting their caffeine fix.

It’s been devoid of a cafe since the end of 2015, just before the Homestead underwent a major renovation, and now it’s looking for expressions of interest to manage the cafe space.

Fitted out with an industrial kitchen and lots of indoor and outdoor seated areas, all it needs is a creative person to turn it into a community cafe.

Similar to the cafe at Hillsborough’s Pah Homestead, Auckland Council’s arts and culture facilities manager Echo Janman says there’s a lot of potential at the Nathan Homestead.

‘‘We have people calling everyday asking where the cafe is,’’ Janman says.

‘‘It’s important we have someone who understands South Auckland and Manurewa. We don’t want a Ponsonby cafe, we want something right for our community and people.’’

Nathan Homestead was built in 1925 and served as a family home for merchant David Nathan.

It’s now owned by Auckland Council and is a community arts centre, with exhibitions, music concerts, performing arts classes, and workshops.

It is also available for hire for private functions and hosts events like Music in Parks in the summer.

An Expression of Interest period for the cafe lease opened in March, but despite lots of conversations with people, nothing has amounted from that, Janman says.

If the right person comes along, Janman could have them in the Homestead next week.

She envisions healthy food, a catering service, picnics in the garden, and most importantly, good quality coffee.

With joggers and walkers coming through the garden every day, it’s essential to have an espresso service, she says.

‘‘I’m waiting for people to come along with their picnic blankets and sit out in the park with great, cheap coffee, ice creams, and smoothies.’’

Janman welcomes anybody interested to contact her on nathan.homestead@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz