City’s heart needs more people to get it pumping
Hamilton’s inner-city heart needs a high-voltage jolt and that means more people living in the inner city, according to one business leader.
The idea is backed by the city council as one of its five key priorities is “shaping a central city where people love to be”.
Transformations in Hamilton’s inner city in recent years include the introduction of Victoria on the River and the new multi-million dollar regional theatre under construction. The latest and potentially biggest fillip is a recently announced $120 million, 10-storey-plus hotel development on southern Victoria St. It is described as transformational by city leaders.
However, there could still be more done to liven up the city’s “shop front window”, believes Central Business Association general manager Vanessa Williams. She wants to see more people living in the central business district. “And it needs more people living across the spectrum of residential living, so everything from affordable, to students to, high-end residents.”
She said there’s a reason there are central city districts, and why they need to be vibrant or be invested in to keep them vibrant or grow their vibrancy.
Williams said one of the predominant factors for the success of a CBD was the level of investment that went into them.
“Back in the day t used to be the only place to go was the central city. All the infrastructure investment that happened was to be able to support a predominance of workforce and buildings.”
Williams is aware of the current financial pressures affecting everyone, including the Hamilton City Councilso she doesn’t believe revitalising the CBD is the responsibility the council alone.
Despite Covid-19 allowing for more flexible working arrangements, Williams said there’s still at least 20,000 people coming to work in the CBD.
She said there’s an economic hub in the CBD and for that to continue it needs to thrive.
“Look at some of our great developers, Stark Property and Fosters Group, they have created places, rebuilt or developed places to make them fantastic places to work in so people want to continue coming into the central city.“
She wants the central city to create a look and feel that people can be proud of so that more people are attracted to live, visit and work here. Williams agreed the CBD could do with a facility like Made in Hamilton East in Garden Place. “The biggest problem you have there is you have got multiple owners and residential apartments that are already there.”
However, what is going for the CBD is that it has everything. “We're not just a retail hub or just boutique retail, we're not just hospitality, we're not just professional services, but we have got all of that in the central city.”
Hamilton City Council’s central city transformation manager Lehi Duncan said the city is the fastest growing area in the country. “We want to increase the number of people living and working in the central city. One of the council’s five key priorities is shaping a central city where people love to be.”
He said enabling more homes so more people can live in the central city is a key outcome in Hamilton’s Urban Growth Strategy and aligns with central government direction and wider regional planning. “It's not only about homes, but about providing quality community spaces, access to jobs and education and more opportunities for people to experience arts and culture.”
Council is working with developers, mana whenua, government agencies and other partners to build a vibrant central city that all Hamiltonians will benefit from.
In 2022, $150 million in Crown funding was contracted to council from the Infrastructure Acceleration Fund, to help build infrastructure to enable around 4000 homes for up to 10,800 people by 2035.
“Alongside housing, it will also support more than 300,000m2 of commercial and retail space and has the potential to unlock more than $2.1 billion in private investment over the next decade.”
The council also supports developers by offering a 50% development contribution remission on all buildings and a 100% development contribution remission for buildings six or more storeys high.
University of Waikato Lecturer in Environmental Planning Carolyn Hill said the city centre was heading in the right direction, but could do with extra enhancement through people. “It's well known in tourism research that people love watching people. And if you've got an urban environment that is full of different people doing a variety of things, you will have space that becomes livelier because of that.”
Hall said if you think of any city you’ve enjoyed being in, it's about the public realm and the people who are using it. “The only way they achieve that is by having reasonably high inner city densities.”
Hill said the cuncil’s doing that with regards to its reorientation towards the river, making more connections up from the river into the CBD. “If you've got an unattractive urban environment, what happens is that people do their necessary activities in that space, but they don't stop and stay, they go and come as quickly as they can.”