The final block of a transformational development in central Cambridge is complete and taking on tenants at the end of a four-year project.
The ambitious mixed-use Lakewood, coming in at a combined cost of about $50 million, is within a few minutes’ walk of the town centre and overlooks Lake Te Kō Utu.
The former site of a railway yard is unrecognisable as the development brings a long-neglected area of town to life, with the final commercial building “Block E” completed in July.
Lakewood’s five blocks feature apartments, a variety of retail, hospitality and office space and a hotel, while the three-hectare site also has a large childcare centre, and future townhouses are in the pipeline.
“Block E”, centre, completes the development.
The final block of the five, with space for up to 12 commercial tenants, already has its Code of Completion Certificate with four tenants currently moving in and one purchaser in the process of fitting out.
Project manager Ben Jones, from Greenstone Group, is pleased local Cambridge businesses are among those moving into Block E, seeing it as a strong thumbs up from local firms who like what they have seen as the development has progressively taken shape. “We’ve had a few local businesses who obviously have been impressed with what’s been going up and decided to join.”
Those relocating from within Cambridge include mortgage brokers Lime Group and lawyers Ellice
Tanner Hart.
The zoning is commercial with a character overlay, which means a wide range of business activities are permitted, encompassing everything from medical to office, along with retail and wholesale.
“By nature, these large developments require you to plan for multiple uses at the design stage because you can never guarantee exactly which tenant or type of business will be knocking on your door to take the space. So you try to build in as much flexibility as you can and future proof the buildings,” Jones says.
One arm of the L-shaped building is single storey, and the other arm has two storeys. There are about 1450 square metres at ground level and a further 500 square metres of office space on the first floor.
The signs for future tenancies are promising – particularly given the developers have had to contend with Covid-19 delaying its completion. “Obviously, we’re dealing with some pretty unprecedented challenges in terms of the business environment at the moment.”
Jones is confident the last few spaces at Lakewood Cambridge will soon be filled, and says it is likely they will include well known New Zealand names. “There will be some strong operators going into those remaining spaces.”
An open day on 25 July to mark the completion of the final building drew hundreds of locals curious about the project that had been taking shape in their town.
In the other four Lakewood building there are just two tenancies still available out of 26 tenancies as the development adds to the Cambridge business scene.
The Waikato developers, Porter Foster JV Ltd, wanted it to complement the town’s existing offering, staying true to Cambridge’s character while adding much-needed commercial space – with research before it started indicating insufficient overall retail floor space to meet demand.
Their success is marked by the fact about 95 percent of businesses basing themselves in Lakewood did not previously have a presence in the town.
The project is significantly large in the Cambridge context, and Jones says there were a lot of “moving parts” along the way, as it was developed in stages.
“It has been a journey, a project of this size and scale, it just takes time and you work through it. And that’s why we’ve developed the building sequentially, rather than try and build them all in one hit. It’s evolved naturally, we’ve filled buildings up as they’ve been coming online.
“The biggest challenge has been the size of the team involved and how many moving parts there are. Good things take time.”
Jones is positive about the role of Waipā District Council, which was keen to see a mixed use development on the site after earlier big box developments had failed to materialise.
“We’ve found them to be quite hands on, very practical and nimble, which is really refreshing to see.
“Council was quite passionate from day one when we pitched the mixed use character development. They were supportive of an outcome along those lines that complemented the town centre, as opposed to a bulk industrial building(s).
“From day one we tasked the architects with coming up with something that had character and tied in and complemented the existing town centre and what Cambridge is renowned for. We’re happy with the end result.”
Demand proved strong for the 16 apartments built as part of the first block. “It was an untested market. Not only were we bringing in mixed use, which was a bit of a new product for the town, we were also bringing in apartments. You never know 100 percent how the local market will receive them until you start taking them to the market and seeing what interest is like – but that went really well.”
He says about two thirds of buyers came from Waikato, with about a third further afield, including Bay of Plenty and Auckland.
As for the name, Lakewood, it was chosen to reflect the key natural features of the area, with deciduous trees putting on a year-round display and with Te Kō Utu lake nestled below.
Part of the brief for the architects was to better connect Te Kō Utu with the town, and the hotel on site also reflects the connection in its name, Hidden Lake. A stroll along the attractively planted northern face of the development reveals views of the lake below – views which are repeated from the buildings themselves.
The Lakewood development also provides for extensive carparking onsite to promote convenient
ease of access.
Jones says the businesses that have moved into Lakewood have been well received locally.
“I guess the proof is in the pudding. Early on it was predominantly external businesses moving into Cambridge, because they’ve obviously recognized it’s such a strong growth area, whilst in these last buildings we’ve had a lot more local businesses moving into the centre, which is the best evidence you can you can ask for in terms of how the locals are receiving it.”
