A new retail and apartment complex has been planned for a "stagnating" area of Princes St, but the development is headed for a resource consent hearing, as it involves demolishing buildings in a protected townscape precinct.
[comment caption=Do you think the proposed Princes St development is appropriate?]
Prista Apartments, a Christchurch-based firm, wants to demolish buildings from 372 to 392 Princes St and replace them with a five-storey building with 15 apartments, three of which would be penthouses, plus retail space on the ground floor.
It would also include 11 Stafford St, though the use for a three-storey building there had not been finalised.
Developer Luke Dirkzwager said from Christchurch yesterday he visited Dunedin two years ago and saw in Princes St "a whole area ready for redevelopment".
"The buildings there are just so run down," he said, and he was surprised nobody had already started development. It needs to be lifted up."
Mr Dirkzwager said a new building would allow the sort of apartments that were not restricted by using a historic building, where it may not be possible to move walls and windows, and he could offer people what they wanted.
The financial difficulties affecting the developer of the former chief post office nearby - caused by the world economic downturn - would not affect what he was planning, Mr Dirkzwager said, as it was "a totally different concept".
A report from Dunedin firm Cubitt Consulting said the majority of buildings in the southern end of the central business district had retail on the ground floor, but many were vacant or were used for storage.
"It is generally realised that the area suffers from a lack of vibrancy and offers little in aesthetic value to the city."
A four-storey "wall of glass" would be a focal point of the new building, with a glass lift and exposed stairs.
The report said the developer was confident the city's desire to have the street enhanced would mean it would accept "albeit with some regret", the loss of the protected townscape buildings.
Mr Dirkzwager said he was not planning to keep the facades.
Council planner Campbell Thomson said the listing of buildings in the district plan, and its designation as a townscape precinct, meant the application had to be go before a resource consent hearing, so a hearings committee could decide whether it was appropriate.
Submissions close on November 28.
