Jason Lindsey and wife Kate (both 39) yesterday unveiled plans for a more than $2 million redevelopment of their ageing four-storey heritage building at 8 Stafford St, Dunedin.
The project would see the conversion of the former textile building - built in 1866 and later modified - into a hub for creative media companies, potentially bringing dozens of new workers into the area.
Mr Lindsey bought the property last month and planned to refurbish and earthquake-strengthen the building over the next year, bringing it up to ''100%-plus'' of new building standard.
He was attracted by the building's potential and the resurgence already under way in the area, and was already in talks with two potential tenants interested in relocating to the building.
One was a Dunedin company looking to expand, while the second was a London-based company considering a move, although further details could not yet be divulged, he said.
''I think we've bought at the right time. I think what's happening in that area is pretty exciting,'' he said.
Mr Lindsey's plans were confirmed after the Otago Daily Times this week reported details of a cluster of eight development projects planned for the surrounding area.
That included the redevelopment of the former Lone Star restaurant into office space, loft-style apartments in Bond St and a consented project for a mixed retail and apartment complex in Princes St.
Potential buyers were also talking to council staff about plans to reopen the city's oldest pub - the Empire Hotel.
Mr Lindsey said his redevelopment would create ''one of the more attractive spaces in town'', capitalising on the building's high ceilings, large windows, exposed brick walls and polished wood floors.
It was those spaces - once refurbished - that attracted start-up companies in the creative sector, and Dunedin's Exchange, with so many older buildings, was ideally placed to become a ''point of difference'' for the city.
That would only be helped by the growth of apartments in heritage buildings south of the Octagon, which would, in turn, fuel demand for restaurants and bars in the area, he believed.
The Octagon could be a ''pretty ugly'' late-night environment, and most people aged over 30 wanted something more, he believed.
The recently-opened Vogel St Kitchen was one example of a new business emerging in the nearby Warehouse precinct, and more would follow, he predicted.
''I think the Exchange is probably going to become the adult side of town.
''I think what is going on down there is pretty exciting.''
Mr Lindsey hoped his building, once redeveloped, would become the new home for a collection of interrelated creative media companies working together for mutual benefit.
He planned to develop a space within the building available for short-term leases, offering offices, conference room facilities, communal office equipment and even someone answering phones and providing administration support to all its users.
''There's a lot of film production and television and commercial production that does come through [Dunedin], that do need short-term space,'' he said.
One vacant floor of the building alone already offered 686sq m of commercial space, which could accommodate about 45 workers, he said.
That space might be taken up by one or two companies, or alternatively, a larger number of smaller companies, he said.
Part of the building could even be converted into a production studio, if tenants needed one, he said.
''It could be a really busy building, or it might not be ... it's our intention to fit it out to top quality. We think it's that kind of building that will bring in top-quality tenants once it's done.''
The city's recent Gigatown win would only help attract start-up companies, he believed.
Mr Lindsey, who was born in the United States, worked as a researcher on Band of Brothers early in his film and television career.
In 2009, he and Stephanie Soechtig directed a top-100 documentary, Tapped, about the bottled water industry.
He moved to Christchurch in 2006 but continued working on Los Angeles-based start-up television shows, but shifted to Dunedin with his wife in 2010, where he now works as a creative director for ZooMoo.
