10 | Invercargill City Council Ltd: City Streets Development REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT T T Russell Fredric Reinvigorated CBD has wow factor The transformed inner city includes a high-end mall, Invercargill Central with Farmers as the anchor retailer, and a 650 place carpark. Invercargill’s reimagined and reinvigorated retail heart, which includes Invercargill City Council’s City Streets upgrade, is wowing both visitors and residents. The recently completed upgrade in the key retail and commercial areas of Esk and Don Streets represents the first stage of the council’s City Streets upgrade which is part of a master plan that will also include parts of Kelvin, Dee, and Tay Streets and beyond. The City Streets upgrade has been undertaken in conjunction with the Invercargill Central development which involved the demolition and reconstruction of almost the full Kelvin, Dee, Tay and Esk streets block. The result is a radically transformed inner city that includes a high-end mall, Invercargill Central with Farmers as the anchor retailer, and a 650 place carpark. ICC group manager infrastructure Erin Moogan says before the City Streets upgrade and retail redevelopment, it was apparent from community and stakeholder feedback during the City Centre Masterplan process in 2020 that there was a sense of a lack pride of place. In addition, the city’s retail heart become scattered in earlier decades as large retailers located themselves on the fringe of the inner city. “Invercargill wanted to have a CBD that it was proud of and it didn’t feel that what we had met the bill.” However, with the $180 million Invercargill Central redevelopment which includes HWR Group’s new nine floor building, HWR Tower, plus the construction of the seven story Langlands Hotel in the adjacent Don St block and the associated streetscape upgrade, this perception and reality has totally changed. People who had not been to Invercargill for some time and have seen the transformation have been completely blown away, Erin says. “It’s Invercargill, but it’s a new version of Invercargill people are finding that’s really cool and people are being able to have pride in the CBD area. “That’s probably the key thing that’s resonated for me; the feedback that we are getting is that we’ve hit the mark in terms of creating a sense of pride of place.” Intrinsic to the City Streets upgrade master plan was to create a sense of place and spaces, where people would want to visit, meet, shop, linger and to be entertained. Both Esk and Don streets now feature fully paved roadways and footpaths, designer seating, dual purpose platforms for seating and performances, and gardens and trees. “Rain gardens are one part of the city streets upgrade that we’re especially proud of and excited for everyone to become acquainted with.” Rain gardens are a special type of street feature that have plants, gravel and soil sitting around and over a drain. Because stormwater and surface water can be contaminated by the likes of heavy metals, sediments and vehicle oil, with a rain garden, instead of potentially contaminated water draining into waterways, it is first naturally filtered through soil, plants and gravel. Council Manager strategic asset planning Russell Pearson says the last inner city streets upgrade was in 2000 when Esk and Don became one way to traffic. “That wasn’t necessarily supporting the retail environment, it wasn’t [so much] a place for people, it was a place where cars used to dominate, and I guess the focus of the master plan process had a range of principles. A place for people is really what it’s about.” T T Consultation key - page 12 “It’s Invercargill, but it’s a new version of Invercargill people are finding that’s really cool and people are being able to have pride in the CBD area.” 0800 360 urban | admin@360urban.co.nz 360urban.co.nz | Auckland • Wellington • Christchurch P A T H W A Y S T O A S U S T A I N A B L E A O T E A R O A Steintec High Performance Paving Systems Natural Stone Paving • Concrete Paving • Clay Paving
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