Mayor’s column: Leveraging Council-owned properties to boost city revitalisation

A key goal for Council is revitalising our central city, reinforced by the summit we hosted earlier this year. It’s a big job that will take many initiatives, many years and significant investment by both the public and private sectors.

Council has some significant projects already underway. Bridge to Better involves a massive upgrade of both the underground infrastructure and streetscape of one of our oldest corridors. We are building a new bus hub at Millers Acre with the work underway for an adjacent replacement car park on Halifax Street.

We are building a new playground adjacent to the Maitai River in Rutherford Park. We have signed a commercial agreement to enable the development of a Connings Food Market in Wakatu Square. We have proposed changes though PC29 that make central city development easier and more attractive.

Council took a further step at its meeting this month by agreeing to seek expressions of interest in three Council-owned properties at 42 Rutherford Street, 25-27 Bridge Street and 3 Halifax Street.

The first property is currently tenanted by the ZUMO coffee house. It is a key strategic site crying out for redevelopment. It had been committed by the previous Council in 2020 to Kāinga Ora for a large state housing development but this fell over last year. The opportunity is enhanced by the Bridge Street upgrade, the outlook over Anzac Park and the proximity to the exciting Connings development.

The second property is the current Bridge Street eBus depot. It will become available after the new Millers Acre bus hub is complete. The third property is the old Refinery building opposite Anzac Park that we are making available for lease proposals and potential community use.

Council does our city no favours in having property sitting vacant or underdeveloped for long periods. It’s not an easy time to be seeking investors. We need to be open minded about proposals. They may be for housing, retail, hospitality, hotels, professional services, tech companies or any combination of these. Our goal is to attract new investment and get a good deal for the city.