Central city park agreed
Christchurch City Council has signed a development agreement with Urban Winery Holdings (UWH) which allows the company to buy part of the block known as the Turners and Growers site and develop it into a “central city urban village”.
After signing the agreement in the last fortnight, UWH now has six months to prepare detailed plans and specifications of the proposed development, including the building programme and arrangements to finance the project.
The Council will be paid at least $6m, spread over up to five years, with the ultimate return depending on the value of subsequent property sales. The Council paid $3.68m in 2002 for the 17,546m 2 Turners and Growers site and since then it has earned a little over $1m from it. The company estimates that its planned $80m development will return from $200,000 to $300,000 a year in rates. The land parcel makes up a substantial part of the block bordered by Madras, Lichfield, Barbadoes and Tuam streets.
Under the agreement, UWH will buy 13,100m 2 , including 810m 2 for a throughway and 2620m 2 for the village green. An area of public space will remain in Council ownership.
As part of the deal, the Council will contribute $2.5m to the project and surrounding area by clearing the site and making it safe, landscaping the village green public space and doing street improvements in the area.
The Council hopes its support for development of this site and the park will be a spur to other land owners in the south-east of the Central City to rejuvenate the area. To further encourage this, the Council has rezoned the surrounding area to allow residential development.
Since the Council accepted UWH as its preferred bidder, the firm has been working with Council staff to produce more detailed plans and the development agreement.
The UWH proposal includes apartments, a hotel with an operating winery, a shopping and market square, basement car parking, and a public space running between Lichfield and Tuam streets and opening on to the village area and connected to Madras Street with a throughway.
“This is another step in revitalising our Central City,” says Mayor Garry Moore. “It’s a proposal which both complements and integrates what’s happening in the area, particularly Lichfield Lanes and links into High Street.
“It successfully meets the objectives the Council and Central City Mayoral Forum had for the site. Not only will it help to increase the number of people living in the central city, it has the makings of a unique attraction in the eastern part of our central city for residents and visitors to Christchurch.”
UWH expect the development to take between five and seven years depending on the actual rate of demand for residential accommodation.
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