Three earthquake-prone buildings in South Dunedin, including the old fire-damaged Wolfenden and Russell shop, are set to make way for a modern retail development and office space.
Demolition could be carried out before the end of the year and the new building might be ready by the end of 2022, Positive Property Ltd director Justin Stott said.
His concept plans were for a three- level building, at 134-154 King Edward St, including 300sqm of retail and 3000sqm of office space, as well as 40 car parks.
He also planned to strengthen and refurbish 160 King Edward St as a heritage building.
‘‘The result is that most of the block, which is currently in a poor state, will be rebuilt or refurbished,’’ Mr Stott said.
Wolfenden and Russell traded for 100 years before the clothing shop shut in 2013.
It was damaged extensively by fire last year.
Mr Stott was enthusiastic about the potential for his development to help provide a lift for the area, and he noted vehicle movement numbers in King Edward St were almost as high as in the nearby one-way State Highway 1.
‘‘It’s going to be a big change for the neighbourhood,’’ he said.
He expected the development, along with the planned South Dunedin library and community complex, and an upgrade of the Hillside railway workshops, would reinvigorate the area.
Mr Stott was raised in Macandrew Rd, South Dunedin, and has spent 10 years redeveloping the old Mainland cheese factory there into a mixed-use commercial site.
He was part of the South Dunedin Action Group that formed after flooding in 2015.
Mr Stott said he hoped to salvage materials from the original buildings in King Edward St and incorporate them into the new construction.
‘‘Old brick might be used to create feature entrance lobbies and we hope there will be some nice old timber beams that we can use in some way.
‘‘We want this building to have character and hope it will become a well-loved feature of the local area.’’ Mike Hunter, of WJ Cadzow and Associates, designed the building and Naylor Love is to construct it.
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Comments
I would not buy or develop anything in South D with sea water levels rising progressively!
The mostly empty South City Mall provides a compelling reason not to develop new premises.
What !!!
Another developer making things better for the community!!
When will they stop !
I’m willing to bet he’s only doing it to exploit the people in the area and become rich.
Let’s have a flood of complaints from those that know his true motives.
There must be someone out there that’s firmly immersed in Marxist theory via our postmodernists education system that can see through the whitewash.
Having earlier jumped on the West Coast anti government bandwagon, EWO now exploits South Dunedin working class to promote passe Rightist ideology.
Which location will be next?
I support the development but not the execution. There is no unity to the buildings and no reference to location, history or environment.
If I designed this I would use white precast concrete and refer to the windows in the existing 3 storey building and a long deep cantilever verandah with radiused corners to provide a unified composition
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Good news for South D and the wider flat area. It's wonderful to see this type of urban renewal for the local community - thank you to Justin. I'm looking forward to seeing the DCC do their bit also, with some more stormwater engineering... all very do-able. South D and the wider flat has a very positive future.