Good times for development firm

Wallace Development Company development manager Mike Walker, pictured in front of the company's latest development in Hastings, says "exciting times" are ahead for commercial property developers. Photo / Duncan Brown

Buildings with poor seismic ratings provided good opportunities for property developers in the wake of the Christchurch earthquakes, but the work is waning says Wallace Development Company development manager Mike Walker.

"Most of the main corporate relocations that have been done for seismic reasons have already happened, but it is certainly still an issue," he said.

The Havelock North-based company has become one of the biggest developers in the lower North Island, growing strongly while the commercial property market recovered from the Global Financial Crisis.

It places the company in a good position as the market picks up, he said.

"We are doing a lot more work nationwide - our profile has lifted.

"There are quite a few things bubbling away - things already seem to be lifting off.

"We have seen a real resurgence in activity - not so much in Hawke's Bay but around the country.

"I think it is going to be exciting times."

The company has more than a dozen current developments throughout the North Island, including service stations, a Queen St development in Auckland, a new Placemakers in Lower Hutt, a Ministry of Education building in Gisborne and a Department of Corrections, a motel redevelopment, Vodafone offices and bank building in Palmerston North.

Recently completed projects include Cosmopolitan House on Napier's Marine Parade, a four-storey business block on the site of the Cosmopolitan Club. It was shortlisted for one of the main prizes in the 2015 Gisborne Hawke's Bay Architectural Awards.

The Wallace Development Company's roots are in Palmerston North but head office relocated to Hawke's Bay, along with managing director Jonathon Wallace in 2009.

He prefers to operate without publicity but featured on the NBR Rich List last week, more than doubling his net worth from $50 million to $110 million on the previous year. He started his property portfolio aged 21 and attributed his success to "getting the basics right".

His company's latest development started last week in Hastings, with the partial demolition of a former Hawke's Bay Electric Power Board building on Eastbourne St East.

"We could pull the whole building down, but we are choosing to save it and strengthen it for two smaller tenancies," Mr Walker said.

"We are keeping the front part of the building and the main facade and strengthening the existing structure.

"It will look just the same - it will just be refurbished."

Plans show a cafe as tenant, which would be neighbouring the Hawke's Bay Opera House-based cafe Opera Kitchen.

Opera Kitchen owner Jennifer Le Comte would neither confirm nor deny if her business was the new tenant, saying cafes often worked next door to each other.

"It might be, but who knows?" she said.