Peter Gordon’s Homeland restaurant to close its doors

Kiwi chef Peter Gordon will close the doors on his Homeland restaurant.

Auckland CBD waterfront restaurant Homeland will close its doors after falling victim to a major new development in the area.

Celebrated Kiwi chef Peter Gordon runs the restaurant, which also boasts a cooking school.

Homeland’s 34 staff had been informed of the decision to begin a change proposal consultation.

“It was tough today having a full meeting and telling senior folk and then the rest of the team. It was awful really,” Gordon told the Herald.

In an email to customers, Homeland said: “We didn’t expect our landlord selling the site to a property developer that doesn’t see Homeland in its vision. It is renovating our building, beginning huge construction works around us and won’t renew our lease.”

Homeland said it had been looking for another site but was unsuccessful.

The proposal is to close the dining room on April 28, while the cooking school will run public and private classes until around July 26.

A final decision is due to be made this week after feedback has been received from staff.

Homeland will vacate the building around mid-August.

Homeland is located at 11 Westhaven Drive, which is owned by Cracker Bay Holdings whose director is Chris Meehan, the head of NZX-listed Winton Land.

The Herald has previously reported on Meehan’s huge plans for the area including a $750 million retirement village and redevelopment of part of Wynyard Quarter’s waterfront edge.

As part of this plan, 11 Westhaven Drive will be refurbished. Winton Land will move its offices into this block and lease out commercial space.

Gordon’s Homeland restaurant and cooking school are currently on the ground floor.

He told the Herald business had been good.

“In an ideal world that’s where we would remain.

“We’re not insolvent, [the] business is successful, we’re just having to make a sensible business decision to reposition us.”

Gordon said lately the building had had scaffolding and yellow tape all around it.

“We do look like a building site to some people.

“We’re not against Winton... or development either. This is just sometimes what happens.

“One of the things we’re really mindful of is when we first opened in there, we had a full building above us, all the businesses in Beaumont Street, there were about eight marine sector businesses, we had about 300-400 people all around - now we have none.”

Gordon and his partner and head of business Alastair Carruthers still have plans to open the cooking school elsewhere in the future, but no timeframe had been put on that.

“Alistair and I since the end of last year have been walking around potential sites.

“We’ve pretty much looked everywhere that we’re aware of... nothing’s available for us. It’s just how it is at the moment with property.”

Gordon, who has run restaurants in London, New York and Istanbul, returned to New Zealand amid the Covid-19 pandemic and opened Homeland’s doors in November 2020.

Gordon was born in Whanganui and is often called the Godfather of Fusion.

Homeland was originally Mantells On the Water at Pier 21.

Cameron Smith is an Auckland-based journalist with the Herald business team. He joined the Herald in 2015 and has covered business and sports.