This series will profile the people who make Christchurch tick, give a voice to the region’s diverse communities and debate how the city can best accommodate its growing number of residents while examining the issues facing the city. Video / NZ Herald
Upstairs at Riverside Market, Christchurch property investors Richard Peebles, Kris Inglis and Mike Percasky have gathered to share their thoughts on the city's progress and what the future holds.
The vibrant 3500m² covered farmers' market – packed with independent food outlets and fresh produce stalls - is bustling with people dropping by for breakfast or their first coffee of the day. Without this trio of investors, none of this would be here. Neither would their thriving international food court – Little High Eatery – that opened in the city's creative quarter, the SALT District, in 2017. Their courage to back the city when it was still in recovery mode after the earthquakes was a shrewd gamble that has paid off.
"Riverside really changed the CBD," says Peebles. "Pedestrian traffic in Cashel Mall doubled overnight after we opened and businesses in the wider area reported a significant boost to their turnover too."
Riverside Market and Riverside Lanes, with its boutique retail and extended eatery options, along with Little High, certainly helped reignite the city centre, as did Antony Gough's riverside hospitality hub The Terrace. Memories of earthquake times are fast fading beside the banks of the Ōtākaro/Avon River.
Christchurch developers Kris Inglis (Left), Richard Peebles (middle), Mike Percasky (right) at Riverside Market. Photo / George Heard
"Many local people didn't want to come into the city after the earthquakes, but that has completely flipped in the last two years, because now they are telling everyone this place is amazing," says Percasky.
"We showed a group of conference delegates through here recently [from MEETINGS 2022, held at Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre] and no-one even mentioned the earthquakes. They were much more interested in seeing 'the new CBD' that they'd all heard about."
Having recently teamed up with Auckland's Kitchen Collective, which has just finished developing one site and is currently looking for another, Percasky can certainly vouch for Auckland's reach as a big market.
"But Christchurch has enough critical mass now too, as well as the right infrastructure."
Te Pae officially welcomed its first conference in May and has a full roster scheduled for the remainder of the year. It is bringing valuable domestic and international visitors to the city, with obvious flow-on benefits for hotels and hospitality.
Riverside Markets boasts some 30 independent food stores and 40 farmers' market stalls, open seven days. Photo / NZH
"They'll go away and spread the word on Christchurch," says Inglis, who adds that demand for office space in the inner city is currently strong.
"That's because businesses are relocating to Christchurch, and existing ones are growing. I think people are realizing that Auckland is a tricky place to try and get on the property ladder or have that freer lifestyle. Here, you can be at the coast in fifteen minutes, or it's an hour to the alps."
Peebles points out there are challenges around keeping up with this growth trajectory – due to lengthy consenting processes and supply chain issues – but takes up the point that demand is running hot in the CBD. And not just for offices, with office vacancy rates now the lowest for 30 years, but also for retail space and homes.
"A young person looking to settle will be looking at the CBD and realizing how liveable it is with places like Riverside and EntX and the new sports centre coming in 2023 [Parakiore Recreation and Sport Centre, which will be the largest aquatic and indoor recreation and leisure venue of its kind in New Zealand]," says Peebles.
"Plus, we're close to beaches and ski fields. The New Zealand Sail Grand Prix is coming here next year. It's just a good place to be, and comparatively speaking we have really affordable housing too."
It is not just the central city picking up pace. Selwyn is one of the fastest growing districts in the country (5.2 per cent in the June 2020 year). Major investment in the city's motorway connections to north and south is forging ever-deeper connections between Christchurch and its booming local authority neighbours, Selwyn, Waimakariri and Hurunui. Is the next logical step a new Super City?
"I think it will happen – it's just a matter of time," says Peebles.
Inglis and Percasky agree. As Inglis notes, it's very common now for people working in the city to live in satellite towns like Kaiapoi, Rangiora, Rolleston or Lincoln. Effectively, theirs is already a Super City lifestyle.
"The new highway systems are pretty good so it's a short commute," says Inglis.
Percasky notes that Akaroa is governed by the Christchurch City Council, yet is farther from the city than either Waimakariri or Selwyn.
"In any other city, they would be suburbs of Christchurch."
The question of how willing councils may be to go down this road is being somewhat overshadowed right now by the city stadium debate. The $150 million budget blow-out on the Te Kaha multi-purpose arena has prompted calls for local authorities outside Christchurch to help pay for it. None have come to the party as yet. The stadium's future is hanging in the balance as Christchurch City Council consults one last time with the public. A final decision is expected at today's council meeting.
Peebles suggests the last thing the council should do now is pause or stop the stadium, given the anchor project was promised to the city as part of the original rebuild blueprint.
"If there had not been that commitment to those big anchor projects, then those guys who built first after the earthquakes would not have invested here," he says.
"I think those people would have a pretty strong moral and legal case if they don't deliver on that commitment.
"We already have an international airport. With a covered stadium in the CBD, you'd be able to fly in, stay in a hotel beside the stadium and take your pick of central city bars and restaurants. It would make Christchurch the city of choice in Australasia for big stadium events."
Inglis suggests Christchurch is already "way out front" when it comes to sheer livability compared to other New Zealand cities, but admits he's probably biased, having lived in the city for 10 years now. Percasky has lived in Christchurch all his life. Peebles didn't start out in Christchurch but reckons he's put 52 years into the place now. None have any plans to leave the city. Whether it evolves in time into a Super City or not almost seems beside the point.
