Papa Christo’s deli cafe delights diners after ambitious CBD building renovation

Wiped out by the 2019 flood, a popular Townsville deli is making an exciting comeback in a dramatically transformed CBD building. See where it is.

Papa Christo's Deli/Cafe team members, Carol Stanek and Karyl Pattison have opened their doors on Stokes Street. Picture: Shae Beplate.

Teamwork has made the dream work in transforming an old Townsville CBD building, which is now home to a deli that was wiped out by the 2019 flood event.

Originally the New Zealand Insurance building after it was constructed in 1960, the building at 16 Stokes St eventually became the Bank of Queensland before it was shuttered 13 years ago.

Wearing many hats including systems and process engineer, ballroom dancing teacher, and owner of Betty Blue and The Lemon Tart, Townsville businessman Chris Christensen snapped up the multi-level office and retail building for $500,000 in June 2022.

Mr Christensen had been looking for the right space to revive his deli dream, after Christo’s Deli at The Precinct in Idalia, was heartbreakingly washed away by the flood.

With help from local businesses including BriteLec, Legacy Plumbing, and Brett West Carpentry, he threw his support behind revitalising the CBD by spending over half a million dollars during a near-two year renovation process.

The building’s roof, airconditioning, plumbing and electrical were replaced, and with the assistance of a Townsville City Council’s Modernising Buildings and Activating Spaces grant, the facade was upgraded.

“Pretty much the building was stripped back to bare surfaces and everything got redone. It was a substantial undertaking,” Mr Christensen said.

“But I was confident to do it because of my background and it helps and I also had very good support from local contractors.”

The icing on the cake was a 17m tall mural by local First Nations artist Nicky Bidju Pryor titled Coolumbria – The Beauty of Dreaming, which was painted through the council’s public street art program last year.

The building’s basement has become a space for Mr Christensen’s project management company Cachet Advisory, the ground floor transformed into a new deli cafe called Papa Christo’s, while the first level, with its sprung floors, has become a function room for local group activities like training workshops, ballroom dancing, meditation, and belly dancing.

Since opening in January, the deli cafe has gradually built up a following, both with visitors and CBD workers, who often return several times a week.

Karyl Pattison slices ham at Papa Christo's Deli/Cafe on Stokes Street. Picture: Shae Beplate.

Papa Christo's Deli/Cafe on Stokes Street. Picture: Shae Beplate.

“The regular feedback is around that freshness, the fact that we’ve got an artisan baker, baking fresh bread for us,” he said.

“We’ve got a lot of small goods and cheeses and everything that is being prepared and presented fresh. We’ve got vegetarian people, who are loving the fact that we’ve got grilled capsicum and queen green olives that we’ve marinated.

“(For) the people who love meat, we’re poaching our own chicken, cooking our own corned beef, slicing our sopressa every day, to make sure that we’ve got quality, fresh product going on those rolls every day.”

Originally published as Papa Christo’s deli cafe delights diners after ambitious CBD building renovation