Short-stay unit plan at wharf

The Auckland cityscape from Devonport wharf and (below left) Columbard in Wyndham St. Picture / Amos Chapple

Columbard "sleeping studio" investor Peter Chevin plans to demolish the Devonport Wharf's buildings and develop short-stay accommodation there.

Chevin said Columbard had a 25-year investment vision and the rusty, leaking wharf structure was not fit to keep.

Chevin, who developed the 18-level Columbard "corporate crash pad" in Wyndham St in Auckland, said he had not completed plans for the wharf.

Although he does not envisage any shopping space in the redevelopment, he is planning a revamped ferry terminal with better facilities and a coffee house along the lines of the ground-level Wyndham St cafe beneath Columbard.

Via a trust, Chevin has applied to buy the wharf lease from North Shore City Council and is waiting to hear. He said he wanted to talk to the community and stakeholders such as the council, ferry operator Fullers and the Auckland Regional Council before he started work.

A second Columbard corporate crash pad is being built at 7 Scotia Pl above Myers Park, he said. Wyndham Construction's $13 million contract to build the 15-level structure would bring 228 short-stay accommodation units to the inner city by next June.

Chevin then plans to take his Columbard concept outside Auckland, saying it would soon become a national brand.

Chevin, who worked with Nigel McKenna's Melview Developments until 1999, said he had 15 people in his Columbard team, half of whom worked from their own homes.