I could be wrong. Could be a brilliant time to score some contracts with builders desperate not to go bust, and then open in 3 years to an economy on the rise once again. But it all depends if the developers had the money in the bank already…..

Cheers..

It seems like the local property developers still do not ‘get it’ regarding transit-oriented development and even when the opportunity stares them in the face remain obdurately 20 years behind their overseas counterparts.

To be quite frankly snobbish (my partner and I ran a temporary Xmas stall in the Mall in 2002) the existing clientele is very ‘drive in to coke and chips’ not ‘downtown sophisticates with soy lattes’, and the proposed design seems intended to service and encourage that ‘obesogenic’ lifestyle.

Ironically, this is yet another case where a suburban development would be more attractive to apartment dwellers, and less of a threat to the CBD, IF there was a direct (light) rail connection to downtown (Courtenay Place, not just WRS) – but the WCC is dead set against any such development, despite it becoming the norm overseas.

Instead of being an exciting example of new urbanism which would be the centrepiece of a sustainable post-carbon community, the proposed Mall design is just another enclosed machine for extracting money from car-dependent consumers. There is no way it is likely to be a ‘town centre’ in any meaningful community sense – just the point of greatest traffic concentration.

But, OTOH, LAS is right – the recession seems likely to delay the plans for a few more years, by which time hopefully even property developers will have got past the 1970s.

I feel that that is the only fair and just thing to do. From the comments we’ve had, there is bound to be a good amount of support for it, especially from up J’ville way. It will be interesting to see what the retailers from the central city will say.

Johnsonville Mall application to be notified

The public will have a full chance to comment on the application to redevelop and expand the Johnsonville Mall.

Independent planning commissioner David Hill has decided that the application by DNZ Property Fund Ltd to redevelop the mall will be dealt with on a ‘fully-notified’ basis – which means all interested parties will be able to make submissions supporting or opposing the plan.

DNZ’s application was lodged with Wellington City Council in 14 October.

Wellington City Council asked Mr Hill, an Auckland planning consultant, to make the call on what basis, in terms of the Resource Management Act, the application be considered. This followed controversy earlier this year over the Council’s notification of a proposed District Plan change (Plan Change 66) designed to protect the vibrancy and vitality of central Wellington’s ‘Golden Mile’ against the effects of large-scale retail developments.

Plan Change 66 would include a ‘trigger’ affecting applications for shopping developments larger than 20,000m² gross floor area (GFA) of retail activity. It would require such applications to provide information on what impact the proposed development would have on the economic fortunes of the ‘Golden Mile’. DNZ has stated that consent is sought for a GFA of retail activity of almost 30,000m² – compared to the 8500m² of comparative retail floor space in the existing centre.

In his report, Mr Hill notes the proposal’s potential impacts on traffic, urban form and other issues affecting the Johnsonville area. He notes: “I am unable to satisfy myself that the adverse effects of the proposed activity on the environment that fall within the matters over which Council has restricted its discretion, notifiable or not, will be minor.” Mr Hill does not necessarily conclude that any of the specific effects will be more than minor, but suggests that public notification will assist in answering that question.

Mr Hill acknowledges that “a shopping centre exists on the present site; and [the District Plan] anticipates a suburban shopping centre redevelopment of the site.” He adds though: “Whatever the merits of the application, and they appear to be considerable and anticipated, this is a development that will define the form and function of Johnsonville for the next considerable period of time. That seems to be commonly accepted. It will constitute the heart of a new town centre and has wide public interest and implication. It will affect the wider community.”

It is likely the public submission process will start in February meaning a hearing is likely in April or May next year.

If you lay one over the other you will see that the cross-link on the upper floor does not correspond with that on the lower floor. If you are walking across the site on the ground floor, not only do you not enter or exit in illogical places, but there is no glazed atrium above you. It’s above the first floor pedestrian spaces with some benefits being conferred to the ground floor of the horseshoe-shaped part by way of voids in the floor between. But traversing the site at ground floor level is going to be a miserable experience – a prime location for a Fish like you to become seriously starved of street-oxygen as well as natural light…

Anyway, enough of that. I’m sure we have better things to discuss than the design faults of something that will pretty certainly never be built!

Why would anyone buy an apartment in J’Ville in preference to the city? Surely the same reason someone would buy a small house in J’Ville over one in Mt Vic – price.

An apartment in central J’Ville would put you within 5 min walk of: train station, public swimming pool, gym, sports fields, supermarket, library, community centre, kindy, primary school, tennis courts… and a few shops. There’s a big shortage of nighttime entertainment/dining options, but the city’s not too far away.

There’s a hell of a lot of gardenless town house/infill housing around which require cars to get anywhere. People buy them, why not an apartment in J’Ville? At least design a mall with an option to stack on the aparmtents later.

Of course the Mall operators want you to relax INside the mall, and lose track of where you are, and to feel overcome with retail excitement and go and buy some more goods. There’s a fine mall retail tradition of massive internal circulation spaces, rather than just small areas of double height atrium, but it seems that the designers have decided that the good burghers of Jville don’t deserve that much space or excitement.