Newlands Mall as it is currently. An odd assortment of small businesses and a cold, drafty Mall space
Wellington City Councillors have unanimously approved a plan to revitalise the Newlands Town Centre.
The Council’s Urban Development Leader, Cr Andy Foster, says the plan was well supported by over 60 submitters.
“Newlands residents and business people and Council staff have worked very hard to put together an excellent plan. It looks at both the short term – one to five years – and the longer term, to 20 years.
“It’s critical that our suburban centres work well. They are the hearts of our communities. Newlands has been the one centre that really didn’t work because it’s badly laid out, tired, lacking a cornerstone people attractor, and consequently has been vulnerable to competition from nearby Johnsonville.
“I was delighted three years ago when Councillors agreed with me that simply investing in the Community Centre wasn’t going to make Newlands work. We had to look at the whole layout.”
New World in Newlands
An artists impression of the New World to go on the corner of Bracken and Newlands Roads
The short-term plan appears to be centred on Foodstuffs’ proposed New World supermarket on the corner of Newlands Road and Bracken Road.
It has been discussed at meetings with residents and local businesspeople, and Foodstuffs now has resource consent for a 2060-square-metre New World supermarket, with 73 basement car parks, at 227 Newlands Rd. A road-stopping process is underway to allow its construction. The Council plans to use the money from the road-stopping and sale of the land to improve the McMillan Court car park arrangement and beautify the area.
“Pedestrian links will be improved through the area. New toilets will be built. Pedestrian safety and vehicle speeds in surrounding streets was also a priority coming through the consultation process, and we’ve picked that up.”
Cr Foster says the upgrade of Council housing on Batchelor Street has also been brought forward. This will significantly improve the quality of the housing and there may also be opportunities for a public-private partnership to provide mixed housing right next to the shopping centre. It’s important to have more people living close to community and retail facilities.”
“In the longer term we expect that these improvements planned for the centre will kick-start further investment by landowners and tenants in the town centre. The Council will not be able to do everything on its own and private-sector investment to upgrade retail buildings and build additional housing will be needed. We are already aware of a number of proposed upgrades in addition to New World.
“We’ll also be looking at improvements to nearby Newlands Park, such as a perimeter walkway, and the use of the old community house site and the Council will be progressing the development of of a comprehensive master plan for the local parks and reserves.”
This news is fantastic for the Newlands area and means that the upgrade in facilities for the population living on the East side of the motorway will mirror the upgrades planned for Johnsonville. This area is often overlooked area by young home buyers because it appears run down and has struggled in the last few decade to overcome a negative stigma, but new subdivsions like Woodridge, Bellevue, and the new Hunters Hill area in Grenada Village are attracting executive families who want good quality yet affordable family housing.
With this news on top of the coming changes to the Johnsonville CBD Johnsonville, Newlands, Paparangi, and Grenada Village are definitely suburbs to watch in terms of capital gains in the medium term. When the Council and big business owners spend money raising the level of amenities in a locale, desirability follows as do higher house prices.
More reading
