Wellington commercial site

 

PHOTO: SUPPLIED The conversion of a Wellington commercial site into residential apartments could be a template for transforming the Nelson CBD, a councillor says.

An initiative that turns empty office buildings into affordable inner-city apartments could be a fix for central Nelson, a councillor says.

In Wellington developers are converting 195 Willis St in Te Aro into affordable apartments and the council will act as landlord, renting them out as a social housing initiative.

Nelson councillor Matt Lawrey talked at a Nelson City Council meeting last week, about the project which saw Wellington City Council sign a 15-year lease on the converted office building.

Alex Cassels, one of the developers for The Wellington Project, said he’d been keen on the idea given the sustained shortage of rental accommodation in Wellington.

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