The director of the company behind the $200 million Invercargill inner-city development says the project will help bring Southlanders back to the city and make Invercargill the region's "backbone". 

HWCP Management director Scott O'Donnell said the proposed development, which would create a retail precinct in the city block between Tay, Dee, Esk and Kelvin streets, would bring Southlanders, who currently travelled to Queenstown or Dunedin for better shopping options, back to Invercargill.

Mr O'Donnell said the downsides of the development not going ahead would be "three times worse".

"Pretty much people have found ways not to come to Invercargill from rural Southland. I think now they can go perhaps to Gore, Queenstown (and) Dunedin (for) better shopping. So people are sort of moving adrift. So our challenge is to try and re-centre so people from Southland come to Invercargill."

A resource consent hearing for the development was held in March and Mr O'Donnell said they were expecting a decision from the hearing by the end of next week.

He said if given the go ahead for the development, demolition of the current buildings on the site would begin "during this calendar year", with construction of the new retail precinct to begin in 2020.

The Invercargill City Council – a partner with the Richardson Group to form HWCP – on Tuesday approved a public consultation period to ask the community if it should invest up to $30 million into the development.

Advocate South

The council was asked by HWCP to invest $20 million into the project, but the council will also allow an extra $10 million "for risk around the budget and any cost associated with potential integration with the rest of the city" to be included in any "consultation on the potential investment".

A public meeting will be held at 5.30pm on Monday (May 20) at the Civic Theatre in Invercargill to discuss the potential investment, with the consultation period open between May 18 and June 28.

It is one of three major projects planned or under construction in Invercargill.

A two-storey retail building, which will be anchored by Kmart, is currently under construction on Clyde St and will also include six additional tenants. Interested businesses are currently being sought.

A Kmart spokesperson said the store was expected to open by the end of the year, with a formal announcement of a store open date to be made "closer to the time".

Added to this is the construction of a new $40 million hotel on the corner of Dee and Don streets by the Invercargill Licensing Trust (ILT).

Demolition on the site for the new hotel, to be called The Langlands, is expected to be completed in the next month, with construction planned to begin in September.

The ILT also announced this week it would inject $7.5 million into its portfolio of commercial properties over the next 12 months.

This would include a $1.475m room refurbishment across its six accommodation properties, a $1.197m upgrade to the Ascot Park Hotel, a $1.92m redevelopment of the Homestead Avenal to turn it into "Invercargill's premier family restaurant" and a $438,000 upgrade to the Kelvin Hotel.

ILT chairman Alan Dennis said reinvesting in its existing businesses was a long-standing focus for the organisation.

"New projects like The Langlands Hotel are exciting but we are also acutely aware of the responsibility we have to ensure all our properties are well-maintained and continue meeting the needs and expectations of our community".

The Langlands Hotel was expected to be finished by September 2021, with a projected opening date of October 27, 2021.