Next month, where the now-closed Asian restaurant served Chinese-inspired food for nearly three decades, a cafe, music-and-art venue, and centre for "radical action" will open.
Named Yours, the cafe and venue, will be the first major venture for the Otepoti Possibilities Co-operative, a group that praises anarchism, consensus decision-making, DIY, and "a post-capitalist future".
The co-operative has raised $6300 towards a $10,000 goal.
The co-operative member who started the crowdfunding drive, Carl Naus, said the renovations, painting and action under way at the building since the co-operative moved in last month showed people in Dunedin were already buying into the project.
From children asking to paint the floor to a passer-by who offered to take away two bags of rubbish, people were showing up and finding ways they could help, members of the co-operative said.
Member Dylan Pyle said high rents had pushed "a lot of things" out of the city centre but the co-operative would try to keep open a space for things that were not commercially viable.
The co-operative would need to pay rent and making food and selling it would would be one way "but I think with the sales model, we’re probably going to go for a pay what you want sort of model", he said.
Member Liam Scaife said he expected the music venue to be open to all ages.
"Last year, I was at high school and it was very difficult for high-school-age bands to find venues that weren’t bars and that people at high school with them could actually go to gigs there.
"I think that’s something that this place will fill really well."
