NBR - Simes seeks new tenant.  Christchurch landmark restaurant Le Bon Bolli is relocating after its landlord declined to renew its current lease. Bon Bolli restaurant owner Phillip Kraal was still overseas this week as Simes launched its marketing campaign but is keen to comment when he returns next week. His partner, Helen Kraal, said the restaurant had operated successfully for nearly 12 years and never defaulted on any payments. She acknowledged that fine dining had fallen in popularity in favour of casual dining and she questioned whether diners were really receiving better value for money when main dishes at Bon Bolli were around $29 and served by a waist coated waiter.

The Warren & Mahoney-designed Cowlishaw Mews houses Bon Bolli, and commercial offices and apartments and there are restrictions on the hours that any commercial enterprise such as a restaurant may operate. The property is across the road from the Arts Centre and the Art Gallery.

Simes is calling for expressions of interest for leasing the high-profile building on the corner of Montreal St and Worcester Boulevard that was built in 1996. Simes agent Rob Logie said there had been a change away from fine dining in the precinct toward breakfast, lunch and early evening drinking and dining. He noted the new developments planned on neighbouring sites, including the new council chambers, the 12-storey Club Tower office building and a hotel development on the former Chung Wah restaurant site. He described the leasing opportunity as “a great investment in an area of growth and upgrading.” New rentals would be negotiated depending on the response to expressions of interest.

The ground and first floor (currently Bon Bolli) could be used for a variety of options, including a restaurant, commercial offices or apartments. The dome on the building was a replica of the Brunelleschi dome on Florence cathedral, he said.