Nelson’s Lost Projects: Kirby Lane container mall

Was it a project that was too far ahead of its time? The man behind the Kirby Lane shipping container mall believes so.

Galen King, the owner and creator of The Bridge Street Collective, first proposed the development in 2016.

However, after three years of “bureaucracy and red tape” getting in the way, the idea fizzled into oblivion.

The proposal included creating a temporary mall in the central-city lane with shipping containers that would house boutique shops, eateries, co-working and event spaces, offices and even a children’s playground.

“We had this empty space in town and once we settled on the idea of creating a shipping container development, we definitely thought it would be a cost-effective and quick project.”

But after applying for consent, the project hit a wall. Costs skyrocketed due to fire and earthquake strengthening standards, required as part of the Building Act, for the second-storey container construction. In fact, it would have ended up costing over $1 million for a temporary project.

“As we designed it, it got bigger and more complex, but the fire and earthquake safety requirements made it cost-prohibitive,” says Galen, who is now based in New York City.

“There was also a lot of resistance from business owners - some very narrow-minded thinking about the value of just one or two car parks. We faced that every step of the way.

“We had so many ideas to try and bring vibrancy into the city centre and there were some councillors that really fought and worked hard to try and make this happen, but I think we were ahead of our time.”

Galen says, despite “wasting a lot of time and money,” he is happy with how Kirby Lane is today.

“We have permanent food carts, the farmers market, and the public interacting with each other.”

The community space is also available to hire for public or private functions and events.

Galen says his dream is to one day create a multi-use building on the site for retail, offices, and accommodation.

Nelson Mayor Rachel Reese says the project “was an exciting venture for our city centre, which council was keen to support”.

“Staff worked extensively pre-lodgement with Galen and his advisers. The council were then able to issue the resource consent within one month. A building consent was also required and was granted.”

Rachel says part of that process involved assessment of the Building Code, and as all the containers were proposed as separate commercial tenancies, including stacked containers, this required individual fire rating for each to ensure fire safety for tenants and shoppers.

“All necessary council approvals were given for the project, but the applicant decided not to proceed. While it is always disappointing when something innovative is unable to get off the ground, council is committed to actively working with developers on similar projects.”

Another private inner-city project, this time from Cephas Property, also never went ahead.

The company, which helped develop the Richmond Mall, proposed a ‘mixed-use precinct’ in 2018, providing boutique retail as well as food and offices.

The project proposed incorporating 2425 square metres of the Wakatu Square carpark that Cephas Property intended on buying from the council.

This would have joined up to retail and office space on Bridge St and Trafalgar St that they acquired in 2018.

At the time, Steve Baigent, managing director of Cephas Property, said that it was “an exciting opportunity to contribute to the revitalisation of the centre of Nelson”.

However, the proposal was withdrawn in 2019 after a possible anchor tenant, Farmers, backed out.

The Mayor said in a statement that the council was disappointed that the development was not going ahead. Some retailers welcomed the development, but it was criticised by some community groups.