Stride Property Requests Allowing Johnsonville Mall Site To Be Developed Up To 18 Floors In Space Plan Submission

Johnsonville’s ailing mall will be the site of a development up to 18 stories high if its owners have their way, joining buildings like the Fujitsu Tower and the 18-story Maritime Tower.

The future of the mall has been a topic of discussion for several years, as several stores have left the building and thus some mall goers have called it “dead.”

But as Wellington City Council plans for future housing through the draft space plan, the mall’s owners, Stride Property Limited and Diversified NZ Property Trust, will make an oral presentation to councilors on Thursday.

The draft space plan proposed that downtown Johnsonville become home to new eight-story developments that received a mixed reaction from residents.

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In its filing, Stride Investment Management Limited, on behalf of the owners, hoped that the plan would recognize Johnsonville as a “metropolitan hub” and allow the development of up to 18 floors on the mall site.

Having an eight-story height limit would not allow the escalation of a “sufficient scale” to create an enclosure “appropriate for a vibrant new modern metropolitan center.”

Nor would it allow “efficient use” of the site.

The owners used the Albany development in Auckland as an example of what could be done.

“The proposed height for the Johnsonville Mall site of only eight stories is restrictive and will compromise Johnsonville’s ability to develop as a center of regional importance.”

He also asked for clarity on density and proposed housing type provisions in the plan.

The owners also called for an investigation into the dual tracking of the Johnsonville rail line and to examine the “desirability of removing traffic from Johnsonville Rd to create a main street within the metropolitan center.”

Tony Randle, vice president of the Johnsonville Community Association, said Stride’s proposal was a complete surprise.

“It would be a game changer for our community,” Randle said. “This is a huge change and it is very difficult to understand their thinking because they have never explained [it]. “

Randle said residents were already concerned about the “already enormous impact” Johnsonville would experience with the draft space plan.

“Johnsonville is not Albany. They make a great game about Johnsonville as a metropolitan center, but the city doesn’t treat it as a metropolitan when it comes to its facilities and investments.

“People are very frustrated because these [spatial plan] changes are being made to them. They are not being done for us, ”he said.

A spokesperson for Stride Property Group said it could not comment on the details of the development at this stage.

“We look forward to sharing more information about the development when the time is right.”

Ōhāriu MP Greg O’Connor said 18 floors sounded high for the area, but thought it would be interesting to see any potential plans.

Any future development must be done tastefully and appropriately, and everyone will have an opinion, he said.

However, O’Connor said he believed the people of Johnsonville would be happy to see some kind of development on that site.

The council’s site planning manager, John McSweeney, said he knew some people in the community were concerned about the additional building heights that the National Policy Statement on Urban Development was pushing for.

He did not have a position on the proposals being made in Johnsonville and council officials were still reading the presentations.