Demolition, development for Princes St

Dunedin's Princes St could be in line for a facelift after a Christchurch developer won a six-year battle to demolish a group of buildings inside a protected townscape.

Luke Dirkzwager, of Prista Apartments, has been granted Environment Court approval to demolish the buildings at 372-392 Princes St and 11 Stafford St, making way for a mixed-use retail and apartment development.

However, three of the buildings' four facades have been spared the wrecking ball, and would instead form a section of the new development, as part of a compromise with heritage advocates.

That would mean the retention of the facades at 380, 386 and 392 Princes St, while the buildings behind them - dating back to between the 1860s and 1913 - would be demolished.

The largest building, at 372-378 Princes St, would be removed with its facade, despite dating back to 1879.

Details of the deal were contained in an Environment Court consent order agreed to by all parties, made public yesterday. It ends a long-running battle over the development dating back to 2008.

Mr Dirkzwager is overseas and could not be reached yesterday for comment about a start date, but the revised consent approved by the court gave him until 2021 to advance the project.

Heritage advocate Peter Entwisle, who was involved in negotiations over the project, said he had been told the development was unlikely to proceed for at least five years.

Mr Dirkzwager was now said to be busy with other projects in Christchurch, and had sought an extended consent deadline, Mr Entwisle said.

While welcoming the decision to spare three of the facades, Mr Entwisle was disappointed some of the city's original Gold Rush-era buildings would be lost.

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Demolition, development for Princes St