Turners & Growers plan out next week

The Press - GLENN CONWAY

A proposal to develop the Turners & Growers site in central Christchurch will be released next week.

The new Christchurch City Council central city committee endorsed plans for the site yesterday. The committee met behind closed doors.

However, Mayor Bob Parker, who chairs the committee, said details of the proposal would be discussed publicly during next week's full council meeting.

The council sold the 17,456-square-metre site to Wellington-based Urban Winery Holdings in October 2006. It had wanted to develop an urban winery and residential accommodation.

The sale agreement included a buyback clause if development did not start by this October.

Parker said he could not reveal details, but it would be "great news for the city" if the council agreed to the proposal on February 10.

If approved, Parker said work could start on the site "in very short order".

... and it's about bloody time too!!!!

Hope ya Pussy is better Davee !:cheers:

Does anyone know what the plan is??? Do you think it will be winery concept still?? Hope so.:)

... and it's about bloody time too!!!!

Yeah I hope it starts as its been an eyesore for so long. It should be residential as the city centre needs more people.

I'm gonna miss that empty lot, like I miss the hole in Hereford St. That's not sarcasm either: a bit of unbuilt nothing adds character to a city.

I'm gonna miss that empty lot, like I miss the hole in Hereford St. That's not sarcasm either: a bit of unbuilt nothing adds character to a city.

Rooty - you're such an enigma..........

EXCITING!!!!!

The problem with Christchurch is the city is full of empty sites, the city has more than Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin combined. Every year it gets worse as heaps more buildings are torn down and no one builds anything new as lack of demand, no demand for new offices, no demand for new retail, no demand for new apartments so the sites are left empty and used for more carparking. Plus the earthquake has added to the long list of vacant sites. Some have been vacant for 20 years e.g. old king edward barracks site they knocked it down to build an office tower then as usual it does not go ahead. Its the same story throughout the city. The big issue is generating the economic growth to increase demand to start building again. Its over 20 years since the last major office building went up the Price waterhouse centre. Thats shows we had this problem for so long and office vacancy rates stubornly wont go down.

You're right J, but we have had city councils that have let commercial development that should have been based in the centre of the city built elsewhere in these suburban parks - Addington for and example. Until this stupid behavior stops we will continue to have a dying inner city. I think the centre of the city and its commercial heart needs to be redefined - but we have a thread about that anyway.

Its over 20 years since the last major office building went up the Price waterhouse centre. Thats shows we had this problem for so long and office vacancy rates stubornly wont go down.

Sorry to pick on this, but it's not strictly true...
IRD Building, Club Tower, New Council Building, New Press Building, New BNZ/Deloitte Building (once an agreement is finally signed) are all pretty recent (or pending) and together provide almost as much space as PwC, ForBarr and Clarendon combined.

Office vacancies in Prime, A and even B grades are reasonably low. From where I sit, alot of the problem is that not enough of the top end tenants have actually committed to any new space, allowing it to be built (BNZ/Deloitte Building case in point).

For the record though, I agree that the suburban office parks are almost as big a tragedy as the shopping malls...

I totally agree with Jarden, thats why myself, along with other business that were in the lanes and cashel mall have found lovely, new, accessible offices in Ferrymead.... why? because there are no benefits of being in the CBD, actually there are disadvantages of being in the CBD. Being an avid supporter does not mean that people should be made to make impractical decisions on where to run their businesses and spend there time. Things need to change very quickly

I think the council should stop all office developments in the suburbs and change the zoning back to residential. This will force developers to start to use the vacant lots in the CBD which will restart building and confidence in the city centre and the more workers in the CBD will shop more there too and help retail business to improve as some are barely surviving at the moment and could easily go under. Also be great to have a new 20+ floor office tower to go up, well it be a nice change anyway. Today there is no cranes in the city. I remember in 1987 there was such a boom we had 13 cranes in the CBD it was so exciting the city had an air of confidence that I will never forget.

press.co.nz 05:00 07/02/2011

Christchurch ratepayers could pay $4 million to buy back a vacant central-city site to help backers fund a major retail and residential project.

A deal over the former Turners & Growers site will be debated by the Christchurch City Council on Thursday. The potential sale would give the landowner, Wellington-based Urban Winery Ltd, the cash to start its project, which includes apartments, retail space and, possibly, a hotel.

The group would give the council a $2m one-off payment and agree to lease back the land for 12 years at $60,000 a year. At the end of the 12-year deal, the council would have received $4m back from the developers for the land, as well as the $2m one-off payment and up to $720,000 in rent – $6.72m compared with about $6m it made from selling the site five years ago.

However, a report to the council said the "substantive benefit" would be from the development of a mixed-use residential and commercial neighbourhood "that will contribute significantly to the life and the revitalisation of the central city".

Plans for an urban winery and retail and residential spaces on the 17,456-square-metre site never got off the ground.

Part of the original sale agreement included a buy-back clause if no development started by October this year.

A new deal was backed by the council's new central city committee behind closed doors last week. Proposal details will be debated in public this week.

The council is being asked to approve new site plans.

The new proposal divides the site into sub-blocks based around a network of lanes and a 4000sqm central public open space.

It also includes three clusters of low-rise townhouses to the site's north, with a mid-rise hotel, apartment building and urban winery to the south of the open space.

The first stage of residential development features 40 two to four-storey row houses around a private courtyard.

The units would have gabled roofs and solid materials to "reflect a Christchurch architecture", the report said.

Each unit would have a private outdoor space and share a larger common green courtyard.

The apartments would sell for between $350,000 and $450,000.

The council recently granted resource consent for the first stage of the residential development, involving 40 apartments. The company is now working on designs before lodging a building-consent application.

GLENN CONWAY - The Press

Concerns about a ratepayer-funded deal to buy a Christchurch inner-city site have forced the city council to delay a decision on the move.

Two property developers and a lawyer yesterday accused the Christchurch City Council of incomplete financial scrutiny over plans to buy back the Turners & Growers site.

The council was considering spending $4 million buying the site from owner Urban Winery Holdings. It would then allow the Wellington-based company to develop a retail and residential project and buy back parts of the land as each of the five stages was completed.

The council agreed to defer the matter until its February 24 meeting.

However, councillors suspended standing orders to let three deputations express their concerns about the deal.

The deputations were waiting to speak in the council chamber, but were told Mayor Bob Parker planned to defer the issue for a fortnight. He eventually let the deputations speak.

Property developer Art McKee, who owns land neighbouring the Turners & Growers site, said he had spent eight years and several hundreds of thousands of dollars on his own council-backed plans only to see them threatened by the Turners site deal.

"The council has led me down a well-documented path where they have always given me the expectation that we would conclude a deal.

"[But] no consideration was given to my development or your council's commitment to me [regarding the Turners & Growers deal]," he said.

McKee urged the council to reject the proposed deal and enforce a buy-back clause in its contract with Urban Winery Holdings.

"It is sometimes better to admit a mistake and start again, rather than trying to cover up with an even worse deal that will have long-lasting, detrimental effects on the next four councils and the ratepayers."

City developer Richard Peebles said he supported developing the site but had grave concerns about the lack of information in the proposed contract.

The council's financial contribution amounted to "a massive level of support" for a single developer.

Christchurch lawyer James Leggett said the deal missed many key details, including latest valuations, no rent renewals, no adjustments for inflation, and the price of apartments – between $350,000 and $400,000 – could be hard to sell.

Parker was confident council staff could respond to any concerns before the revised report was tabled this month.

I hope they can overcome these hurdles and get a building project started in the city for once or will the site be left empty for another 20 years. Christchurch is the only major city without any inner city development going on.

15/02/2011

OPINION: The Christchurch City Council's handling of the Turners & Growers development risks is becoming another embarrassment. The project has been delayed for nine years; the council's $4 million investment has come to nothing; legal challenges threaten; citizens - and perhaps councillors - have been kept in the dark; and the council's current manoeuvring suggests a touch of panic. That is a potent concoction that could explode in Mayor Parker's face.

If it does so, the accusation will be made that he has learned nothing from the Henderson property deal, despite reassurances during his re-election campaign that he had absorbed them. Primary among them was the need to keep citizens informed about the council's proposed actions, particularly those that involve the spending of substantial amounts of ratepayers' money on risky ventures.

This has not occurred with the Turners & Growers project. What is publicly known is a few financial facts, and they do not provide anything like a full picture of what is proposed.

The mayor, when he returns from this week's surprise visit to Nepal, should tell citizens the detail of the council's dealings over the site. That will begin to staunch the increasing sense that Christchurch is about to be lumbered with an expensive and inappropriate project.

If Parker repeats his previous behaviour in such matters he will no doubt say that commercial sensitivity prevents disclosure. But this is the reasoning of someone habituated to wielding power behind closed doors, not of a civic leader beholden to inform his electors.

The reality in such matters is nearly always that a substantial public accounting can be made without financially disadvantaging the negotiating parties. Moreover, in a democracy, such openness is required. Witness the Prime Minister's clear declaration of his policy on partial asset sales, so as to receive a mandate before any deal is done.

What is known about the Turners & Growers deal is worrying. Proposed is a messy arrangement with Urban Winery Canterbury, the company contracted since 2006 to develop the site. The $1 million deposit it paid the council would be refunded and the requirement that it pay the remaining $3 million for the site would be waived. The council would lease the property for 12 years to the developers and allow them to buy parts of the site as the stages of the project are completed. The rental is thought to be below prevailing commercial rates, although an additional $2 million would be charged to the developers at the end of the 12 years.

Ad Feedback

In effect, the council would be providing Urban Winery Canterbury with a loan over 12 years, using ratepayers' money on a risky development that may be unprofitable. On the back of yesterday's announcement that the council has had to bail out Vbase because of the cost of development at AMI Stadium, such a proposal for the Turners & Growers site is hardly likely to meet ratepayer approval.

Sensible councils help sound development as much as they can, but not to the extent of entering into multi-million- dollar, highly speculative property deals in secret and without consulting their citizens. Some councillors seem to understand this. Their colleagues should support them, requiring a full airing of the matter. Councillors will have the strong support of Christchurch people if they so act.

- The Press