Eleven new social housing units in a Dunedin heritage building are expected to be ready for tenants before Christmas. Developer Russell Lund said the units on the ground floor of the former Loan and Mercantile building on the city’s waterfront should be open in November. They would add to 30 existing social housing flats in the building, as well as upmarket apartments there. Mr Lund, who is also a city councillor, said a lot of work had been happening on the site’s ground floor in recent weeks. COPYRIGHT - ALLIED MEDIAA worker fits out one of the new units. Photo: Gerard O'Brien Piling had been completed, there was the installation of showers, kitchens, heat pumps and flooring, and plumbing and electrical work was carried out, he said. “We’ve had a massive amount of work, basically.” As of Monday, painting was largely complete and carpeting was to come, Mr Lund said. Social housing units are managed by the Salvation Army, which holds a lease. COPYRIGHT - ALLIED MEDIASalvaged steel I beams are used as pedestals in the bathrooms of the new units. Photo: Gerard O'Brien The building at the corner of Thomas Burns and Willis Sts was constructed from 1872 and it began as Otago Wool Stores for stock and station agents Driver Stewart and Co. It is listed as a category 2 historic place. Uses over the years have included an air-raid shelter, indoor karting, offices and warehousing, as was stated in Heritage New Zealand information. The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Co occupied the building until the 1960s. Mr Lund said artwork by his late wife, Suzanne, would feature on the ground floor. [Missing Credit]More artwork from Suzanne Lund will feature in the redeveloped former Loan and Mercantile building in Dunedin. Photo: Supplied Some of her pieces were also on the first floor, but the new display would be more comprehensive. Mrs Lund died early last year. “It will be quite the experience walking down the hallway because there will be a great number of my wife’s artworks there, all lit with spotlights … like walking into an art gallery,” Mr Lund said. There was capacity in the building for further redevelopment, he said.
