Housing developers sell central city sites
Two housing developers have dropped plans to build in central Christchurch and are selling their land.
Rosefern Homes holds a resource consent for a $10 million townhouse complex on the northwest corner of Fitzgerald Ave and Gloucester St, and recently gained permission to demolish an old shop on the site.
It is now looking for another developer to pay more than $2.4m for the 2000m² property. It comes with resource consent from the city council for a complex called Gloucester Quarter, with 20 townhouses and off-street parking.
At 110-112 Bealey Ave, Fusion Properties has put its 1500m² site on the market.
The company has had plans drawn up for 15 homes and garages, but had not obtained resource consent. Offers for the land are being sought by a deadline this week.
Rosefern Homes has already completed housing developments in suburbs including St Albans, Spreydon and Hornby.
It has others under way in Edgeware, Woolston, Linwood, Papanui, Sydenham, and Northwood.
Director Paul Szybiak said work on the Fitzgerald/Gloucester development had taken a long time, and they now wanted to focus on their other projects.
Rosefern’s delays included drawing up plans to repair and restore the heritage building on the land, then reversing the plan when the cost of the work escalated.
The company then had to apply for permission to demolish the building, an application that was publicly notified before being approved.
The building, originally a factory and a shop dating from 1900, remains standing.
Gloucester Quarter was to include homes of two or three bedrooms, two and three storeys high. “It has dragged out for so long, with the issues we’ve had, and in the circumstances with how the market has been.
‘‘Pre-sales are slow,” Szybiak said. “We want to focus on our smaller developments, four to six units, and we’ve got others coming up.”
Szybiak said they have received “multiple” offers from other developers for the land.
Fusion Properties’ Bealey Ave land, between Durham and Colombo streets, was previously occupied by a large two-storey house demolished last year.
The building was previously home to the Bealey Clinic.
Commercial real estate agent Courtney Doig, from Colliers, who is handling sales of both the Bealey Ave and Fitzgerald/Gloucester properties, said while demand was slower than during the pandemic, it was steady.
Would-be buyers for the Gloucester Quarter were mostly local developers, she said. Some are keen to continue the Rosefern project as consented, but others prefer to build lower-density housing, she said.
Another Christchurch housing developer, Growcott Freer, recently revealed plans to build about 70 homes at 888 Colombo St, just south of Bealey Ave.
The 9000m² site, behind McLean’s mansion, is to be developed in several stages, with 12 blocks containing two and three-bedroom homes.
Nearby at 867 Colombo St, developer Brooksfield has bought land and is also planning a housing development.
In a heartfelt delivery of his horrific experience during New Zealand’s “darkest day”, a survivor of the Christchurch mosque terror attacks questioned the lack of urgency over his care in those life-changing hours.
“I couldn’t comprehend why we were waiting instead of rushing to the hospital,” Temel Ataçocuğu told a crowded room in Christchurch’s Town Hall on Saturday.
He was shot nine times throughout by the terrorist attack at Al Noor mosque on March 15, 2019, and lived to tell the harrowing story of his survival.
Ataçocuğu was among a number of international speakers at the Critical Resuscitation in Chaos conference, a two-day event aimed at giving insights into the latest advances in tactical and operational medicine, and to boost knowledge to save lives in high-risk, dynamic environments.
Gunshot wounds littered Ataçocuğu’s body following the shooting that killed 51 people.
The first shot entered his mouth, then others hit his left arm and both legs. Despite all this, he walked unaided from inside the mosque to the footpath outside.
“Some people on the path stopped me and made me sit down for my safety.
‘‘While sitting on the ground I saw a young girl lying on the ground lifeless.
‘‘She had been killed by the terrorist. He had first shot her and then drove over her.”
After being checked by emergency services, he was asked if he could walk.
“Eventually I stood up and walked 200m to the ambulance because the police weren’t allowing [paramedics] to come and help us.”
Meanwhile, his pain was increasing and, though watching a man’s child pass away in his arms made his own pain “insignificant” for a moment, it eventually hit him at full force – and he still hadn’t been treated, he said. When a paramedic arrived, he said he was asked if he was OK, and if he could get into the ambulance.
“He didn't make any physical intervention or take control.
“I managed to get into the ambulance and lay on the stretcher by myself. Another survivor was already inside.
‘‘I don’t know how long I had to wait in that ambulance.
‘‘The pain was excruciating. Every passing second felt like an eternity.
‘‘I couldn’t comprehend why we were waiting instead of rushing to the hospital.
“I still don’t know why I didn’t receive any intervention that could ease my pain or keep me alive.
‘‘I pleaded with the paramedics ... to take me to hospital as soon as possible.
‘‘When we finally drove to the hospital, it was the longest drive in my life.”
When he finally arrived at Christchurch Hospital, a team of doctors and nurses started an intravenous line and ensured he remained conscious.
“They cut off my clothes and inserted a drain for my internal bleeding.
‘‘Eventually, they gave me medicine to put me to sleep.”
What followed was two weeks at Christchurch Hospital, and two weeks at Burwood Hospital.
Since the attack he is a shell of his former self.
He can no longer work, he experiences depression, post-traumatic disorder and, without sleeping tablets, he said he had “terrifying nightmares and flashbacks” of that fateful day.
At the end of his speech he thanked the doctors, nurses, first responders, “and all who helped”.
And he had a glimmer of hope, that those there could learn from the experiences of that “horrible day”.
“Thank you for hearing this,” he told them.