Tim Calder

Reading through the Otago Daily Times this weekend I was presently supprised to see pictures of two of my student rental properties on the front page! My first thought was, “Shit, what has happened now!”, but as I read on I found that a former student and staff of the Otago University, Sarah Gallagher, was attempting to put together a book of great Dunedin named student flats. After reading these articles I decided to join her Facebook group ‘Dunedin (NZ) student flats’ where I found several of my old varsity friends and loads of other great Dunedin named student flats.  

Dunedin’s population is about 115,000 and around 20,000 of those people are students at Otago University,

Most of them come from other places which creates a campus, unique in New Zealand, based round residential halls and flats centred on the University.

Otago’s student culture usually hits the headlines because of alcohol fuelled stupidity. But between those, relatively few, episodes of anti-social behaviour most of the students attend to their studies, sport and social activities without annoying other people or damaging property.

While doing so they forge friendships which last a lifetime.

Sarah Gallagher

Willowbank Quarter is the largest single accommodation facility that I manage. With 31 apartments, 104 double rooms and executive suites this complex has been no easy feat to lease single handily. The University Flat List has been responsible for the bulk of traffic directed my way with Trademe providing a significant portion of the rest. I am grateful for the support from the Otago Language Centre for displaying one of our banners and for the previous tenants for passing on positive feedback which has helped create excellent word of mouth referrals. It took right to the 30th of December but now I can say that Willowbank Quarter is completely 100% tenanted!!

One of the other applications that I thought I would try is the Facebook Group feature. I used this feature to create a Willowbank Quarter ‘Neighborhood’ group where I invited all my signed up tenants. Once they joined I have been able to send them notifications of tenancy updates, and display contact and other information. It has been encouraging to see that members of this group have also used the notice board feature to speak to other group members e.g. trying to find missing mail, email problems, etc. I am hoping as the year goes on that this group will also be a sounding board for problems that tenants may be facing that I am unaware of. I am also hoping that this Facebook group will also help promote this relatively unknown complex to the wider student community.

The Our Stadium Supporters Club received an unarranged win yesterday as the Dunedin City Council public notifications to the land rezoning submissions were published with 108 for the stadium and 107 against. Even after heavy negative campaigning by the ‘Stop the Stadium’ group over these past few weeks, a positive outcome was achieved for the Carisbrook Stadium Trusts development. It was the decision of our committee that we reframe from rallying the support of our 3500 strong membership database as this would only slow the already delayed rezoning process. The intention was to produce quality submissions, not quantity, whereby submitters were able to be present to speak to their submission.

EZY STOR Self Storage has reached the stage where we require dedicated storage software. Storman is professional storage software designed to improve the operations of your storage facility by keeping better track of your customers account details, tracking customers in’s and out’s, and by producing several detailed facility/business reports. We have tried the demo and have looked at other software packages on the market before we made up our minds to go ahead with the software. One aspect that held us back for a while now was the high cost of this software, it seems that all industry related companies are taking advantage of the strong growth in New Zealand self storage by charging huge amounts for relatively simple software. Where Storman have the monopoly is that most other software is largely related to the US self storage industry whereby Storman is the only prominent software in Australasia.

The one thing that I have been searching for in Self Storage Software that I haven’t found anywhere is the ability to operate it online. EZY STOR Self Storage has four facilities across Dunedin, and are constructing another site as we speak, which are all run out of the same head office located in the center of town. If we were able to access all of our facilities remotely from any location this would enable the ability to sign up customers, check accounts, and open the security gates while onsite at any facility. As internet is becoming more accessible via iPhone and other portable systems the ability to operate online is becoming more important. Unfortunately I don’t think that this feature is on the cards for the next few years as there is no real push for Storman or any other software company to provide it. Most self storage facilities are run by owner/operators which generally manager their own single facility so don’t have the problem of having to get across town to meet another customer. And of course as there is very little competition with self storage software providers there is no need to innovate to remain competitive.

Our new Otago University Student Association (OUSA) President for 2009 is Jo Moore, who beat off 7 other candidates, all male. Jo’s main campaign platform was that she and her incoming committee would investigate the Otago University moving to a four day a week tuition programme which would mean that students would have day free whereby they could work, study, or focus on other endeavors. This move would allow the Otago University to reduce their carbon footprint by not requiring to heat, clean, and administer tuition areas on this day. I think this is an innovative idea to improve the Otago University Education. This concept would promote a far more efficient use of time in an age whereby costs are increasing, time is becoming far more valuable and student allowances are remaining the same.

I look forward to speaking with Jo, once she settles in to her new role, on her views of the Awatea Street Stadium development and to see whether her committee of executives support or are against this topical subject in Dunedin. This years President, Simon Wilson, was on the fence of the stadium proposal stating that the Otago University’s enrollment numbers are looking to be capped so any additional benefit from the stadium that would attract more students to Dunedin would be ineffective, although agreed that as a student he could see what an attraction this could become. Under Simon’s presidency, OUSA moved that they (the student body representative) were against the stadium development as many students believed that this joint venture with the Otago University, City and Regional Councils, would result in their fees going up… It is a fact however that the Otago University are looking to invest over $150m in purchasing land & buildings in the coming 5 years. I believe that the figures that they have indicated they will contribute to the stadium development would be better spent than competing with other investors for the limited supply commercial property.

In what seems to be a very positive move the Carisbrook Stadium Trust is proposing a change to the district plan which would allow them to rezone the land at Awatea Street from Industrial to Campus Zoning. This would allow the trust to further the stadium development and transform this derelict land into a vibrant, functional, and enjoyable area. This news has aggravated the ‘Stop the Stadium group’ as they are seeking to encourage their members to make submissions to the Environment Court against the change in order to delay the process. Not only is this an irresponsible move, it could potentially delay the completion of the stadium which is only just on target to be ready by the 2011 Rugby World Cup. This delay would also end up costing the city more as construction would be put on hold until the appeals have been considered and ruling is made.

The Carisbrook Stadium Trust is now beginning the process of re-zoning the land where they plan to build the new multi-purpose stadium. This is going to be an arduous task which will hopefully go though without any appeals being lodged with the Environment Court. If appeals are lodged this would mean that the stadium construction could be delayed which means that the stadium would not be ready for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. The land will need to be re-zoned from an industrial zone to campus zone so that the stadium can be built.

This is a new light industrial development that we are in the final stages of completion with. Stage one of this development has sold well and now stage two is continuing that success with only one remaining. Ross Rainsford and Stephen Hughes have done a great job at selling these to those in Wanaka short of space for their boat or car, warehousing for business, or for an investment property.

EZY-STOR Self Storage has today just opened its fourth storage facility in Dunedin. The new facility in St. Albans Street, Kaikorai Valley has 58 garages 29 - 3×3’s and 29 - 6×3’s. The demand for storage in Dunedin continues to grow as new facilities quickly fill requiring another to be built. We are currently working on our 5th mega facility now which could double our size and provide EZY-STOR Self Storage with a range of smaller size units located in the center of town.