Work starts on $5.5m boost to shopping centre
Christchurch’s Tower Junction shopping centre is set to expand with new stores and food and drink outlets.
The Addington bulk-retail complex, owned by Ngai Tahu Property, is already one of the city’s biggest shopping centres.
The $5.5 million expansion would add 2500 square metres of space in two new buildings.
They are due to be finished late this year, with new tenants in business by the second quarter of next year.
Part of the centre’s car park has been fenced off for the construction of one building, which will be between Bunnings hardware barn and the block of stores that includes Harvey Norman and Toyworld. This new building will house two large stores.
The second building will be in the Tower Junction village part of the complex, near Speights Ale House and Raeward Fresh. It will have about five medium-sized, ground-floor tenancies.
Ngai Tahu Property is searching for tenants, including retailers, food and beverage outlets and commercial services, for the new buildings.
Chief executive David Kennedy said the organisation was excited about the expansion of the shopping centre, which was triggered by consumer demand and the increased number of residents and workers in the area.
In addition, the shopping centre would be ‘‘refreshed to create a connection with the culture and story of Ngai Tahu’’, he said.
Estimates put 15,000 workers within 1 kilometre of Tower Junction, many of whom are in business parks including Show Place, Workstation 55, Addington Business Park and Hazeldean.
Christchurch’s rugby stadium, Horncastle Arena and Addington Raceway are also nearby.
After the earthquakes, Ngai Tahu hired retail consultants RCG to review the centre’s performance. Its recommendations included expanding and relocating some tenants, and a master plan was developed.
The project would bring the centre’s retail space to nearly 4 hectares, up from 3.7ha. Nearby mall Westfield Riccarton has 5.5ha of retail space.
The shopping centre was established by Ngai Tahu on former railway land in 2003 and houses more than 30 businesses. It has 1200 car parks.
Its first tenant was the 1.25ha Bunnings store and its most recent addition was a hub of outdoor gear retailers including Torpedo 7 and The Golf Warehouse in 2012.
Major tenants include Ezibuy, Harvey Norman and Kathmandu.
Ngai Tahu Property’s other assets and developments in Christchurch include the city council headquarters, the King Edward Barracks office development and the Wigram Skies and Prestons residential subdivisions.
South City Shopping Centre is losing one of its main drawcards – the New World supermarket.
The supermarket will move to a new site to the west, across Durham St, and will span the block from Wilmer St to Moorhouse Ave.
Land records show Foodstuffs made land purchases worth more than $20 million from Miles Premises, Kevin O’Connell, and Wairere Holdings.
The new supermarket will be managed by the same owners of the South City New World, Justin and Claire Vaudrey.
The new site is being prepared for construction, for which a resource consent has been lodged.
South City’s management has yet to reveal the identity of any new tenant for the existing New World space when it is vacated.
The South City property is owned by rags-to-riches Christchurch millionaire John Butterfield, who was brought up in east Christchurch before building an estimated $80m fortune from construction and investment.
Butterfield was at his Fiji home where he spends much of his time and was unavailable for comment yesterday.
He also owns the Smith City site over Colombo St from South City, making him Christchurch’s biggest city landowner by area.
Foodstuffs’ general manager of property and retail development, Roger Davidson, said the new store would be modern and larger at 3500 square metres compared with the South City premises of 2700sqm.
‘‘It means we’ll be able to offer a larger range of fresh foods and extra services such as a cafe. We’ll also have dedicated car parking and a layout that’s easier to access,’’ he said.
Davidson said the store would be opened in 2019.
Foodstuffs has 19 New World stores in Canterbury and 41 stores in the South Island. It also operates Four Square, Pak’n Save, Raeward Fresh, Henrys BWS, and On The Spot stores.
The 2017 accounts show the group made profit of $341m on turnover of $2.9 billion.