Lack of funds stalls opening of The Grand
Progress on Christchurch’s The Grand hospitality and visitor centre in Cathedral Square has faltered with the project facing a $1.5 million shortfall.
Opening has already been delayed several times on the development, which was to have opened by now in the old central post office with the help of crowd funding.
Plans include a downstairs bar-restaurant, a cafe, a bakery, an upstairs restaurant and wine lounge, an outdoor dining area seating 200, an i-site visitor information office, and shops including a florist and gift store.
Director Darin Rainbird said the project was 80% complete, with the space for the city’s new i-site visitor office 95% complete. In the meantime, the i-site has opened temporarily in the Novotel hotel on the other side of the square.
“It will operate from here until we gain permission to open within the i-site space in The Grand,” Rainbird said.
The Grand building is leased from landlord Gordon Chamberlain, who previously repaired, strengthened and restored the brick and stone structure with the assistance of a $900,000 city council heritage grant.
Rainbird said if he could secure another investor in time, they could be open by late January, “if all goes well”.
The company behind the complex, The Grand Cathedral Square Ltd, which has Rainbird as the main shareholder plus multiple smaller shareholders, has already spent $3.5m, including buying $800,000 worth of equipment.
Rainbird said they needed to bridge their $1.5m funding gap before they could open. They were carrying on with their own builders on site in the meantime, but needed the funds for other tradespeople for work including electrical, ventilation and plumbing.
Existing shareholders have put in between $500,000 and $50. Some workers have taken shares in the company as part-payment.
Rainbird said they had been “badly let down” by two overseas investors, and were looking for a new investor to come on board as a shareholder. “If we have to, we will take on finance. We are talking to a number of larger investors and financiers ... but we need to cast our reach as far as possible to guarantee we finish, and finish promptly.”
He said some existing investors were also keen to put in more money, but he wanted a key investor confirmed first, preferably someone with hospitality experience.
He had made the mistake of not having written agreements with the overseas investors, and would now handle that differently, he said.
So far the project had been very cost effective, Rainbird said. Many fittings, fixtures and items of equipment and furniture had been recycled from other buildings.