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From undressing to salad dressing

From undressing to salad dressing - new dining precinct plans unveiled for strip club quarter

The gradual conversion of once seedy Karangahape Road from Auckland’s red-light district into an entertainment, hospitality and rejuvenated retail area has been given a major boost – with plans unveiled for a new upmarket dining and food shopping hub.

The new venue - to be called Krd Food Workshop at 309 Karangahape Road – is a continuation on the trendy Ponsonby Central Produce Market concept, whose tenant operators include Ceres Organics, Jimmy the Fish and Neat Meats.

Leasing broker Leah La Hood from Bayleys Real Estate is working with a team of architects and designers on the new Krd Food Workshop concept. Plans are to strip the 96-year-old building back to its original framework before creating a new street frontage and adding a ‘70’s industrial look to the internal open-plan space.

The 320 square metre Krd Food Workshop complex will contain a mix of eateries and artisan producers who will be producing their wares onsite within the 309 Karangahape Road premises. Ms La Hood said the five tenancies being offered within The Krd Food Workshop precinct ranged in size from 20 to 150 square metres.

Ms La Hood was instrumental in sourcing a varied menu of food and beverage tenants for the immensely successful Ponsonby Central hospitality hub and the dining precinct known as Queens Rise at 125 Queen Street at the base of BNZ Tower.

“Ponsonby Central Produce market is based on wholesalers such as Neat Meat creating a two-tier business where they are retailing to general public customers, and wholesaling to surrounding restaurants and cafes,” she said.

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“Krd Food Workshop is taking this concept to a third tier of producing product onsite. Customers can come and watch the theatre of production, taste the wares, and watch goods being prepared and packed for the wholesale market.

“The rental levels at Krd Food Workshop allow the venue to be cost-effective enough to afford the extra space required for foodservice production. Annual rental rates of between $250 to $900 per square metre have been budgeted, The property’s basement level will provide space for storage, wholesale preparation equipment, and chiller units.”

Ms La Hood said the wider catchment area for The Food Workshop customers would stretch from the high-rise apartment blocks along Symonds Street, across the rise from Grafton Gulley to Upper Queen Street, along the eastern periphery of Ponsonby Road, and down into the existing apartment towers in Hopetoun Street.

“The lunchtime trade for Krd Food Workshop is forecast to attract the multiple small commercial premises operating above retail spaces in Karangahape Road which currently make use of convenience and café style premises,” said Ms La Hood.

“After-five business is then expected to come from a core audience of surrounding apartment dwellers either popping in for a drink and bite to eat on the way home, or stocking up on ingredient supplies and ready-made meals from the retail outlets.

“The concept is based on bringing wholesale producers to vertical retailing through the theatre of onsite production.”
Ms La Hood said Krd Food Workshop was at the cutting edge of an urban regeneration project which would eventually see Karangahape Road rivalling Ponsonby as a destination in its own right.

“The past three years have seen the growing gentrification of Karangahape Road, as the striptease clubs have one by one closed or moved on,” said Ms La Hood.

“While there will be licensed premises, we envisage Krd Food Workshop will be seen as a pre-entertainment venue and not a late-night drinking destination. There are already enough bars in the immediate vicinity to amply fulfil this role for a younger and probably less discerning age demographic.
“And the pace of this gentrification is set to gather momentum - with two new and substantial high-end apartment complexes in Hereford Street being at the bow-wave of this evolution.”

Some 210 new luxury apartments are currently being built in two former commercial tower blocks. Residences within the blocks range from $390,000 to more than $5 million - with tenants expected to be in occupancy by the first quarter of 2016.

Meanwhile, commercial property developer Andy Davy is currently refurbishing the 24/7 pub, which will reopen under the name Haka Lodge, an upmarket backpackers accommodation. Davey also has plans to construct an apartment block on K’ Road overlooking the motorway.

Ms La Hood said establishments within the Krd Food Workshop hospitality precinct would have their own distinct décor and furnishings. Liquor licenses would be individually held by operators.
Depending on the type of foodservice offerings within Krd Food Workshop, individual operations could be licensed to sell alcohol, she said. Venues could be either counter or table-service.
Ms La Hood said the refurbishment programme at Krd Food Workshop is underway and was expected to be completed in the latter part of the year - with tenancies taking residence shortly after completion.

ENDS

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