The gradual conversion of once seedy Karangahape Rd from Auckland’s red-light district into an entertainment, hospitality and rejuvenated retail area has been given a major boost, with plans unveiled for a new upmarket dining and food shopping hub.

The new venue, to be called Krd Food Workshop at 309 Karangahape Rd, is a continuation on the trendy Ponsonby Central Produce Market concept, whose tenant operators include Ceres Organics, Jimmy the Fish and Neat Meats.

Leasing broker, Leah La Hood, from Bayleys Real Estate, is working with a team of architects and designers on the new Krd Food Workshop concept. Plans are to strip the 96-year-old building back to its original framework before creating a new street frontage and adding a “70s” industrial look to the internal open-plan space.

The 320sqm Krd Food Workshop complex will contain a mix of eateries and artisan producers who will be producing their wares onsite within the 309 Karangahape Rd premises. La Hood said the five tenancies being offered within The Krd Food Workshop precinct ranged in size from 20 to 150sqm.

La Hood was instrumental in sourcing a varied menu of food and beverage tenants for the immensely successful Ponsonby Central hospitality hub and dining precinct known as Queens Rise at 125 Queen St at the base of BNZ Tower.

“Ponsonby Central Produce market is based on wholesalers such as Neat Meat creating a two-tier business where they are retailing to general public customers and wholesaling to surrounding restaurants and cafes,” she said.

“Krd Food Workshop is taking this concept to a third tier of producing product onsite. Customers can come and watch the theatre of production, taste the wares, and watch goods being prepared and packed for the wholesale market.

“The rental levels at Krd Food Workshop allow the venue to be cost-effective enough to afford the extra space required for food service production. Annual rental rates of between $250 to $900 per square metre have been budgeted. The property’s basement level will provide space for storage, wholesale preparation equipment, and chiller units.”

La Hood said the wider catchment area for The Food Workshop customers would stretch from the high-rise apartment blocks along Symonds St, across the rise from Grafton Gulley to Upper Queen St, along the eastern periphery of Ponsonby Rd, and down into the existing apartment towers in Hopetoun St.

“The lunchtime trade for Krd Food Workshop is forecast to attract the multiple small commercial premises operating above retail spaces in Karangahape Rd, which currently make use of convenience and cafe style premises,” said La Hood.

“After five business is then expected to come from a core audience of surrounding apartment dwellers either popping in for a drink and bite to eat on the way home or stocking up on ingredient supplies and ready-made meals from retail outlets.

“The concept is based on bringing wholesale producers to vertical retailing through the theatre of onsite production.”

La Hood said Krd Food Workshop was at the cutting edge of an urban regeneration project which would eventually see Karangahape Rd rivalling Ponsonby as a destination in its own right.

“The past three years have seen the growing gentrification of Karangahape Rd as the striptease clubs have one by one closed or moved on,” said La Hood.

“While there will be licensed premises, we envisage Krd Food Workshop will be seen as a pre-entertainment venue and not a late-night drinking destination. There are already enough bars in the immediate vicinity to amply fulfil this role for a younger and probably less discerning age demographic.

“And the pace of this gentrification is set to gather momentum, with two new and substantial high-end apartment complexes in Hereford St being at the bow-wave of this evolution.”

La Hood said establishments within the Krd Food Workshop hospitality precinct will have their own distinct décor and furnishings. Liquor licenses will be individually held by operators.

Depending on the type of food service offerings within Krd Food Workshop, individual operations could be licensed to sell alcohol, she said. Venues could be either counter or table-service.

La Hood said the refurbishment programme at Krd Food Workshop is under way and is expected to be completed in the latter part of the year, with tenancies taking residence shortly after completion.