Retail link in central Christchurch reopens for first time since earthquakes
Contractors on the airbridge between The Crossing and Ballantynes department store in central Christchurch last year.
A key pedestrian link for central Christchurch shoppers – the Colombo St airbridge – will reopen on Wednesday for the first time since the earthquakes.
The first-floor walkway links Ballantynes department store with The Crossing shopping centre. Privately owned by both landowners, it has been closed since the February 2011 earthquake.
Crossing owner Philip Carter said getting the bridge ready proved "incredibly challenging" as it had to meet increased fire and safety regulations.
He said the opening would enable him to lease upstairs shops in The Crossing's restored heritage building.
The Crossing owner Philip Carter and Ballantynes chief executive Maria O'Halloran as the wall closing the airbridge is dismantled this week in preparation for its Wednesday opening.
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Carter opened his $140 million complex last year and it is now over half full with almost 30 tenants. A cafe and more shops are still to come.
His plans to lease space by the airbridge to UK fashion retailer TopShop fell through when its New Zealand operation, which he part-owned, closed last year.
He said the airbridge added to the "world-class" shopping experience of the rebuilt central city.
Ballantynes chief executive Maria O'Halloran said she was "delighted" at the reopening. The airbridge would give the department store another key entrance and its reopening was a "significant milestone" for the central city, she said.
The airbridge illuminated by art in 2007.
The move will also connect Ballantynes under cover to The Crossing's 630-space car parking building. A partial ground-floor rebuild of the store, due for completion by early next year, will link in the other direction to the 805-space Lichfield St parking building.
O'Halloran said visitors and residents attracted by new shops and hospitality outlets and the return of office workers were helping the city's economic recovery.
The central city had the potential for "huge growth", she said.
The airbridge is the only one remaining out of several previously used in the central city. The others – one on either side of the former Triangle Centre, one at Smiths City and one linking Christchurch Town Hall to the old convention centre – have all been demolished.
Work under way last year on the airbridge linking The Crossing and Ballantynes.
- Stuff
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