BARTON ST LANE RETAIL AND OFFICE DEVELOPMENT | Proposed

The old Les Mills gym building on Victoria St will be demolished to make room for a new "Barton St Lane" retail development.

Foster Construction, which owns the building at 611 Victoria St, has secured a demolition consent and hopes to begin work in June.

"We're looking to develop a complex. A retail and office block," said commercial manager Leonard Gardner.

The three-storey proposed development includes 1000 square metres of retail space on the ground floor, about 50 carparks on top of that, and 1500sqm of office space on the top floor.

The building is being developed by Foster Development - part of Foster Construction Group - and a number of private partners.

Gardner said developing a retail lane will bring foot traffic through from the popular retail area on Barton St.

"We're trying to do an extension of Barton St as opposed to an extension of Victoria St."

It will create a new corner site on Victoria St with good visibility to traffic, he said. Foster Development is negotiating with potential retail tenants.

"A couple of retail and service providers have expressed interest."

The lane will be half-covered by the overhanging carpark and office floors.
Gardner said the company is working closely with Hamilton City Council to develop "the right solution for the city".

"We're trying to convert old stock into new building stock to try and rejuvenate the CBD."

Gardner said the building has been hard to tenant, partly because of antisocial behaviour of people who gather on Victoria St and in the existing walking tunnel to Barton St.

The building is close to Rota On Victoria which until recently sold synthetic drugs, causing nearby retailers to complain about intoxicated people loitering in the area.

Gardner said the new lane will become a space people can enjoy and feel safe in.

He said the decision to demolish the building was made easier because a recent inspection found that some holes in the concrete were caused by damage to the reinforcing steel.

"It's not about to fall down," he said. "[But] it has limited longevity."

Click to expand...

TheTron said:

Former Les Mills building to make way for new three storey development

LINK

Click to expand...

TheTron said:

This is an exciting proposal, I'm really looking forward to seeing the renders of this one.

If I read it right, a new laneway will be opened between Barton St and Victoria St, and I wonder if that includes the JB HiFi site as well? Either way though it is good to see something happen to this very run down site.

Interesting that Fosters Construction own the land, I didn't think they were in the business of developing. I always thought they the builders for developers rather than being the builder AND developer.

Click to expand...

GrrrPi said:

This is definitely a go, I've now twice seen meetings about this going on at Rocket Cafe next door. Would've loved to interrupt and look through their folders of plans and notes .

Click to expand...

The old Les Mills gym on Victoria St will be a pile of rubble by this time next week.

The building at 611 Victoria St, owned by Foster Construction, is being demolished to make way for a new retail and office development.

Foster commercial manager Leonard Gardner said he expects most of the demolition work to be done by the end of next week, but it could take longer for everything to be removed.

He said the old building has a lot of rimu trusses and other materials that will be recycled by the demolition contractor.

Gardner said normal process for Foster is to crush concrete from a demolition and use it in the foundation of the new building.

The three-storey development - currently labelled The Cooperative on Barton St Lane - will have retail stores on the ground floor and a carpark that will be either underground or on the second floor.

Depending on the carpark, there may be one or two floors of office space.

''It's all a bit fluid at the moment,'' said Gardner.

He said tenants will have a say in how the building is formatted and what it is named.

Construction will not begin until tenants have been signed up and consulted.
'
'We've got a few people interested in the location.''

A main feature of the development will be a walkway connecting Barton St and Victoria St, designed to attract foot traffic in for the increasingly popular Barton St shopping area.

The area around the Victoria St side of the building has been beleaguered by antisocial behaviour.

Gardner said the area is a lot friendlier now synthetic drugs aren't allowed to be sold in a nearby store, and the bus seats have been moved further from the building to the roadside.

''It cuts down on loiterers,'' he said.

Garner said the potential tenants are obviously content with the area and the plans.

''It's a significant landholding in the middle of the [central business district].''

Click to expand...

TheTron said:

Construction Update

LINK

What does everyone think of the render? I'm not sure myself, perhaps it doesn't do it justice?

Click to expand...

Alexjc said:

:lol:Typically hideous Hamilton, still, a great refreshing look for a scraggy hole in a fast becomming popular end of the central business retail precinct. I can see Barton st slowed down and made into quite a nice area in the comming years.

Click to expand...

TheTron said:

Construction Update

LINK

What does everyone think of the render? I'm not sure myself, perhaps it doesn't do it justice?

Click to expand...

cbm. said:

Just been past that way and some demolition work appears to have started.

Click to expand...

cbm. said:

Funny, I walked past that way today and noticed the same thing, was going to post about it. I guess it comes down to the bottom line, they'll start the development when they have a tenant sign on or the funds to do it. I personally as a lesser of two evils would rather have a city that is full of maintained, utilised buildings interspersed with carparks than interspersed with empty, unmaintained buildings but that's a matter of taste. I think there are council rules at play too? From memory it has been mentioned that SkyCity will have to do something eventually with the old ANZ & Nandos sites as their carpark is only authorised as a “temporary activity”.

Click to expand...