With just under 500 days to go, the Invercargill city development has 65% spaces leased and a further 16% awaiting sign-off, the developer says.
Invercargill Central Ltd earlier this week held a halfway function to celebrate the milestone and announce new tenants for the $230 million project.
They join Starbucks and anchor tenant Farmers, which are estimated to open in May next year, with the remaining stores to open by Christmas of that year.
Invercargill Central Ltd developer Scott O’Donnell also told attendees the development would have three food court areas.
There would be one with restaurants for people who wanted to sit down and have a nice dinner, another inspired by food precincts such as the Little High Eatery in Christchurch, and a third with more fast food options.
More than 20 food options would be available and the expectation was the restaurants would be open until late, about 9pm, he said.
The options would include Temptation Desserts, Sake Brothers, ReBurger and Korean Fried Chicken.
Mr O’Donnell was satisfied the project was on track and with new businesses despite the team having faced challenges.
Legal action, the Covid-19 lockdown, bad weather and some ‘‘funding dramas’’ were among the adversities the project had had to overcome.
‘‘We had it all. Actually we became really capable of managing all those things,’’ he said.
Mr O’Donnell said more tenants would be announced soon.
