Waikato Business News August/September 2020

28 WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS August/September 2020
LAKEWOOD CAMBRIDGE
Lakewood
makes its mark
From page 27
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
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).
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
Continued on page 30
“Block E”, centre, completes the development.