Subscribe to RSSPretty Vacant & Wet
I caught a late train from Newmarket last night - and was disturbed to find the entrance way from Remuera Rd very wet with water seeping across the walkway.
Take a look.
What’s going on? What’s the issue? Is the place leaking or poorly drained?
Water across the Newmarket entranceway
Station Square looks sadder than ever.
I counted at least 16 shops empty. Some of those empty shop windows look rather dusty and grimy as well as neglected.
At least 16 shops empty -could be more
There was at least a drycleaners, a couple of Asian mini-marts, a sushi shop and a clothing factory outlet.
There is still no coffee shop -although a little while ago, there was a sign saying Esquires was about to open. I couldn’t find that last night.
Newmarket surprisingly lacks many really good coffee shops but even one of the Gloria /Starbucks/Esquires chain shops would be good there and should do well with takeaway coffee.
It’s been over 8 months since the square opened as such. Can it ever recover?
16 Comments
Really sad……
I think the city probably has to bite the bullet and realise the square is too ugly to be attractive to most commercial businesses. It should get a coffee shop in there and then combine several of the shops into something civic minded like a children’s library which would at least get some people into the square and then the commercial side might pick up by feeding off that…
Enclose the square with a high white stretched canvas roof with good lighting and put in daily dancing.
The biggest problem is the size and shape of the shop floors, I mean the shop frontage is so small for a new building, that combined with no character, to me it’s hard to see how they thought it would succeed. I wouldn’t open a shop in a situation like that unless there was no investment to be spent.
To me they either need to add character or let people take 6month trail rents out, where they take a percentage of their operating profit to reduce costs.
Once more move in, more character will develop, however it will always be limited due to the ridiculous shop front size.
Joshua - I agree, the shops are pretty small and pokey, just like the apartments above them. It would be better if they halved the number of shops by knocking out a few walls. The bigger area would probably be more attactive.
The design of the space and the buildings is pretty horrible, and short of a major redo, nothing can be done. When the economy picks up again, the leasing issues will probably disappear, but it will stay cheap and nasty.
Retail is all about shop fronts. These all fail terribly in an attempt to jam in as many as possible.
GET SOME REAL GREEN TREES!!!
Larger trees need planter pits of sizeable width and weight (and the tree’s final weight as well, of course). The car park roof is unlikely to be able to support that, as no one will have included it in the design.
So we will be left with the stupid glass trees. But at least they could have lots of shrubbery.
how about some grass? I was dissapointed the first time i saw the square, they really had an opportunity to create a nice public space.
tip. Visit teed st for good food/coffee (oh how they screwed this st up too, would have been perfect for a shared space :<
there are fake trees - made of steel and glass! the frontage things is absolutely right as some of the only ones tenanted are the corner sites.
Regarding the wet walkway - you do realize the glass sides only go 50% of the way up to the ceiling, with the rest open to the elements? It was never designed to stay dry like an indoor space, but just as a basic wind break.
Yes Geoff thats right. Only lets the water in when its raining sideways. With a polished concrete surface, its pretty hazardous on the occasions that it gets wet.
Feels/looks like a shopping arcade here in London
@ joust - I would like to see the glass panels extended right to the top. Having a half indoors/half outdoors arrangement with an indoors floor isn’t a good design.
It is really sad, but inadequate cheap crap design tends to lead to situations like this.
the best option really id to demolish the new apartment abomination and re-build something of worth there. The only shops that will ever rent out the spaces in this development will be the low rent, shot term 2 dollar rubbish shops and convenience stores.
It would also be better to demolish the section of building between the square and broadway to create a proper square off the main street. Then perhaps the square will activate as a place to be rather than a pace to rush through after getting off the train.
“tip. Visit teed st for good food/coffee (oh how they screwed this st up too, would have been perfect for a shared space :<"
Osbourne / Teed Street are great spaces. Not everything needs to be shared space, and we should not be down on the good just because "it could have been better!"