Rejuvenation of Hamilton's office space has been the impetus for new retail operations to be established in the city centre, along with attracting residential development, says a new Bayleys Research report.
"Hamilton City Council's push to reconnect the CBD with the Waikato River looks to be gaining traction, with a number of recent office and retail developments re-orientated towards the river - the largest being the Victoria on the River [VOTR] complex by Matt Stark," says Bayley's researcher Goran Ujdur.
The changing face and tenancy structure of Hamilton's CBD is gathering momentum as older commercial buildings are 'morphed' into new entities, and new tenancies move into the precinct, he says.
"As well as providing a much-needed refreshing of the CBD, the steady stream of office refurbishments and development activity is spurring a new wave of retailers to the CBD - including names like Lululemon and Ruby - many encouragingly, orientated towards the Waikato River.
"In addition, a string of fashionable food and beverage businesses has opened up, drawing both the office crowd and other patrons to the city centre; and also increasing the demand for more high-spec office space."
Ujdur says Hamilton City Council has allocated $13m in its latest 10-year plan [2018-2028] for the acquisition and demolition of a number of tired commercial properties on Victoria Rd between VOTR and the proposed new regional theatre.
"Should this plan proceed, it could act as a major catalyst for further revitalisation of the city area," Ujdur says.
"At the northern end of the CBD, the council's plan to encourage recycling of older commercial properties into higher density inner-city housing looks to be working.
"A growing list of townhouse and apartment projects is underway around Angelsea and Rostrevor Sts which is adding another positive dimension to the rejuvenation of the city centre."