The Invercargill inner-city block was officially declared open at a ceremony last night (Thursday December 3).

COVID-19 restrictions this year had delayed the ceremony until now. 

Demolition of the block bordered by Dee, Tay, Kelvin and Esk Streets started on January 23 this year and finished on September 19.

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Construction of a new city block in the heart of Invercargill’s central business district is now underway.

Built by HWCP Management Ltd, when completed, the new development will have 700 new car parks, shops, play areas for children and an array of restaurants.

HWCP is a joint venture between ICC's Invercargill City Property Ltd and HWR Property Ltd (Richardson Group).

The development project director Geoff Cotton said about 37% of the foundations have been completed.

A new, 3000 sq m Farmers store located behind the old Southland Times building façade is set to open in May next year, alongside other retailers such as Starbucks.

Mr Cotton said it was very exciting to see the project underway and on track, with two new large cranes set up in the city block this week to complete the construction phase.

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Interim chief executive of HW Richardson Group Scott O’Donnell said it felt like the project had been making record time but in fact was right on schedule. 

He said the sense of activity created by the build gave an overall sense of confidence to Invercargill city and its people. 

Ngāi Tahu kaumatua Michael Skerrit said a prayer during the opening and blessed the project to ensure all goes well from here on. 

Mayor Tim Shadbolt joined with equity funders to take turns shoveling dirt from the construction site to mark the opening.

The project is funded by jointly funded by the Invercargill City Council (through Invercargill City Holding Ltd), O’Donnell CBD Ltd, Geoffrey Thomson, the Provincial Growth Fund, and the Government’s shovel-ready fund.

The council had invested up to $30million in the project but agreed in June to invest a further $16 million to cover the $21 million funding shortfall left after Mr Thomson reduced his investment to $4 million.

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However, the ICC was able to pare back its investment to $40.5 million from $46 million, after the government announced it would contribute $10 million to the project from its shovel-ready initiative.

This means the ICC’s shareholding in the development project is approximately 45%.