$85m Grand Central another leg up for central Christchurch

Central Christchurch is about to get another boost with the biggest shift yet of public servants back to the central city.

On Monday, nearly 500 workers will begin moving into the new $85 million Grand Central building on Cashel St just east of High St.

The site is the largest of four new buildings privately built for 1500 public servants in a Crown project aimed at pumping extra pay packets into the retail precinct. 

 

 

 

 

 

Brendan Chase, chairman of the Central City Business Association, said the latest batch of office workers returning would make "a big difference" to the city.

"It's great news, another square in the grid filled. Hopefully it will really strengthen up those businesses like retailers that are already in there, and coax a few more back in."

Moving into the new building first will be Immigration New Zealand, part of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). They will be followed within weeks by the Ministry of Social Development and Department of Conservation, then joined by private office tenants, fashion stores, and a cafe.

 

 

 

The building is large with seven storeys covering almost 3000sq m each. It is on the former site of the 20-storey Hotel Grand Chancellor, dramatically demolished in 2012 after being left leaning by the earthquakes.

The property is owned by Hotel Grand Central Ltd, a Singaporean-owned property investor and hotel operator. They originally intended to replace their hotel as part of a 12-storey rebuild, but opted instead for the lower office and retail building.

Grand Hotels general manager Frank Delli Cicchi said despite it being their first property development, construction had gone without a major hitch.  Seventy per cent of the cost was covered by insurance.

"We're really happy that it's nearly done and we've been able to contribute something back to Christchurch and help the city get back up on its feet," he said.

The building features a tinted glass facade and a five-storey high central atrium criss-crossed by internal staircases.

An international-brand fashion store not yet identified will open on the ground floor about March. Negotiations are underway with other fashion-type tenants and a cafe to fill the other shops, and with professional firms for the remaining two office floors.

Stewart McRobie, MBIE's chief financial officer, said the move was "a major milestone" for the government's support of Christchurch's revitalisation.

It was also a good example of departments collaborating, and he hoped it would help them work more closely together.

Several thousand office workers are now back in the central city, with both private and public sector tenants taking space in new buildings in and around the retail precinct, innovation precinct, and just west of the Avon River.

The public sector return began with around 380 staff from nine departments and agencies shifting into the Hereford St building in the new BNZ Centre early last year. ACC is about to move 200 staff into the second stage facing Cashel St.

The project will be completed in April when 350 workers from the Ministries of Health and Education shift into the Ngai Tahu development underway on Cambridge Tce opposite the Bridge of Remembrance.

Other developments due to be finished this year include the $300m justice and emergency services precinct, which will house 2000 staff, and the $140m Crossing complex in the retail precinct.

Research done last year forecast 15,000 office workers could be in and around the retail precinct when it is fully open late this year.

 

 

New arrivals into central Christchurch offices in the past year include:

Statistics New Zealand

Internal Affairs

New Zealand Transport Agency

Department of Internal Affairs

Te Puni Kokiri

Human Rights Commission

Ministry for Pacific Peoples

Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority

Creative New Zealand

Health Promotion Agency

Environment Canterbury

Meridian

BNZ bank

Vodafone

Kathmandu

Brother

PricewaterhouseCoopers

Chapman Trip

Crombie Lockwood

Wynyard Group

Orbit/House of Travel

 

Soon to move in:

ANZ Bank

Cavell Leitch

Becca

?ACC

Immigration New Zealand

Ministry of Social Development

Department of Conservation

?Ministry of Health

Ministry of Education