Future unclear for CBD project

The future remains unclear for a long-delayed Christchurch development seen as key to bringing residents back to the city centre.

Central City Business Association chairwoman Annabel Turley said it might be hard for central city developments to get going until major rebuild projects were up and running.

Development of the former convention centre site, opposite the Town Hall in Kilmore St, is being overseen by Christchurch City Council rebuild company Development Christchurch Ltd (DCL), which owns the land.

An international consortium’s plans to build a $900 million complex of shops, offices, restaurants, apartments, and a hotel were scrapped in October 2018 after two years of efforts to get the development going.

DCL has since been talking with other potential developers about the project known as Peterborough Central.

Chief executive Rob Hall said there had been interest from ‘‘a wide range of potential developers and investors’’ and DCL had been speaking to them in more detail about future plans.

Hall said it was too soon to put a timeline on when it would choose a developer.

Rob Hall

Annabel Turley

Earlier work by DCL found the site was suited to a mixture of residential, hospitality, retail, and potentially hotel accommodation, with laneways to help people get to the Town Hall and to encourage pedestrians.

Turley said it was hard to get developers to come into sites such as Peterborough Central until big projects like the stadium and the convention centre were finished.

The convention centre, known as Te Pae, is expected to open in October but other major projects are further away – the Metro Sports Facility should be finished in early 2022, while the stadium is not forecast to open until the spring of 2024.

She said residential projects were the most important thing for the central city; ‘‘we need people living in the city, not just working in the city and then at six o’clock they are gone’’.

Hall said Peterborough Central and the wider area were considered ‘‘key’’ development sites for reaching the central city population growth goals of the council’s Project 8011 plan.

Other central city residential projects have also struggled.

Attempts to develop a Government-owned site in Madras St, opposite Latimer Square, fell over in 2015 after the chosen developers were unable to secure funding. A non-profit community housing development has since been chosen for the site.

It gained a $450,000 loan from council – enough for the development to push forward but still only half of what is needed.

Treasury has raised concerns over slow sales for the East Frame, a Government-driven housing development being built by Fletchers, describing sales as ‘‘slower than planned’’ with 36 units under contract last October.

About 60 of 172 possible units have been sold to date.