Heart of the City: Breathing life back into Esk St West
The Heart of the City column - in partnership with Invercargill Central - puts a focus on inner city Invercargill and reaffirms the area's status as the heart of the city.
The weekly Heart of the City column is backed by Invercargill Central. Visit invercargillcentral.nz for more info about what’s on offer at Invercargill Central.
Esk St West was once a bustling area of inner-city Invercargill, loaded with Government workers.
It’s the little stretch of Esk St that sits between Wachner Place and the Railway Station in Leven St.
In June 1966, the seven-storey Menzies building, including basement storage, was opened in Esk St West.
It replaced a building that had been at that site since 1910.
The Menzies Building was built in the 1960s as a government office block.
But centralisation started to become the norm in New Zealand. The need for the number of Government workers based in Invercargill, and in that building, declined.
Over the years, the building’s owners struggled to fill the significant office space within the Menzies Building.
Nelson-based commercial property owner Gaire Thompson owned the Invercargill building up until 2021.
At that time, the Southland Community College was the building’s largest tenant, but Thompson conceded the space the Southland Community College occupied had shrunk before he sold it in 2021.
As the people disappeared from that building over the years, so did the activity in and around Esk St West.
Close to 59 years to the day the Menzies Building opened in 1966, it will reopen this year with another purpose.
Much-needed life will be breathed back into that area of town.
Gaire Thompson sold the Menzies Building to hotelier Geoff Thomson in 2021. Geoff Thomson has undertaken a significant transformation of the building.
The redeveloped building will be reopened this year as a new 4.5-star 150-room Distinction Hotel.
Distinction Hotels is taking reservations from September. Although people can also enquire about stays prior to September.
It’s understood that the first stay at the hotel is looming as the fit-out nears completion.
On top of the 150 rooms, the Distinction Invercargill Hotel will be home to the Retreat Restaurant & Bar, which will be open daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
It’s a gathering place that Distinction Hotels says will be “loved by locals and hotel guests alike”.
Private dining rooms will be available for functions and occasions.
The Invercargill hotel will be Distinction’s 17th throughout the country and comes with some added emotion for Distinction Hotels owner Geoff Thomson, given Invercargill is his hometown.
The first Distinction Hotel was set up in Te Anau.
Recruitment for staff for the new Invercargill hotel is already well underway.
The revitalisation of Esk St West isn’t restricted just to the dramatic transformation of the Menzies Building.
Geoff Thomson also bought some decaying buildings on the other side of Esk St West.
The Invercargill City Council-owned buildings had become an eyesore. There were safety concerns given their state, and as a result, they had largely remained empty.
Thomson’s purchase of the buildings took a problem off the hands of the Invercargill City Council and also played a role in helping to revitalise the tired area of inner city Invercargill.
Thomson has incorporated the space that was once occupied by those buildings into the wider hotel complex. It includes a three-storey car park.
Twelve two or three-bedroom residential apartments are also being included in the development.
On top of all of that, a well-documented redevelopment of Wachner Place is taking place.
A bus lane from Dee St through to the new hotel in Esk St West has been introduced.
The clock that was in place has been removed, but it will be reintroduced when the Wachner Place development is completed. It will be positioned closer to Dee St.
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Good luck Geoff,make this a happy place for vistors.like all your other hotels.
Great to see this redevelopment take place. Lower Esk Street was such a dismal place before, with those derelict buildings. Nice to see a couple of the older ones retained and renovated.