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The future of Christchurch’s Catholic Cathedral precinct is suddenly looking shaky.
The ground shifted when the City Council revised its CBD roading plans.
Developers – those putting up millions and encouraging growth – don’t want one-way streets near their sites. Not when they were supposed to be two-way streets.
One of the many projects caught in the middle is the planned Cathedral precinct car park.
What’s happening
The Council has devised a $33 million plan to make roads around Christchurch’s new Te Kaha stadium more pedestrian-friendly.
Part of the plan would make Lichfield St one-way, with a 10kph speed limit between Madras and Manchester Streets.
It’s thought safety is likely to improve.
Three-quarters of the 1,200 submitters supported the change of plan.
As a consequence, Philip Carter (pictured with former Bishop of Christchurch Paul Martin) and several Christchurch developers are scaling back major projects in the area, putting others on hold and threatening to pull out of the central city.
The Council is breaking promises made in earlier post-earthquake rebuild documents, they say. The developers are being left without certainty.
Carter says the documents show Lichfield St would remain two-way. The street is an “artery” for a car park which he and Christchurch’s Catholic diocese are developing.
Now the Council is “tampering” with it. Making it one-way would break trust, he said. He has “deep concerns” about anything that affected traffic coming into the city.
Investors don’t want to put their money into developments on one-way streets, he indicated.
The Cathedral precinct
The car park joint venture the diocese and Carter are working on is for a 600-space parking building in the precinct. Offices for youth ministry and social services staff, plus accommodation for the bishop and priests are included with the plans.
Carter says he won’t be doing this if the Council’s plans go ahead. (Nor will he be building planned hotels in the vicinity.)
If Carter does pull out, the Church’s plans for the precinct will obviously be affected.
It’s a project the diocese has been looking forward to.
When it was first announced, then Catholic Bishop of Christchurch Paul Martin said he was keen for the Cathedral – which the Carter Group has been chosen to build – to be at the heart of the city.
The precinct will be handy for the congregation, school groups and the public, with room for up to 1000 people, he said at the time.
He was pleased the precinct would stay open to the public to walk through. It would provide a pedestrian link from New Regent St to the Avon River.
Fundraising for the Church’s estimated share of the development, including land and buildings has begun, to cover:
- $85 million for the Cathedral
- $11 million for the relocated St Mary’s primary school
- $30 million for the diocesan share of a joint venture with Carter to the 600-space parking building.
Martin said the plan took over a year to put together behind the scenes, involving several landowners as well as the Church and Crown.
Sources
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