Developer CJ Efstratiou told Mainstreet Wanganui operations manager Ritchie Minnell yesterday that building would begin at his central Wanganui shopping site shortly.
Mr Minnell had phoned the developer at his home in England about other matters.
A start on building the retail complex had been scheduled in the past but the work did not progress. Archaeologists working at the site had battled to be paid by the developer, which caused a holdup.
Mr Minnell has heard the project is now to take place all at once, rather than in stages.
It is a big job - plans approved by the Wanganui District Council in July last year show a 5530sq m, two-storey building for Farmers, with its back against St Hill St. The centre of the site is a 71-space car park.
Victoria Ave will be fronted by seven small new shops, with a gap between them for a walkway to the interior.
The vehicle entrance to the car park will be from Maria Place, with three other small shops along the footpath there.
The complex will be known as the Victoria Retail Centre.
Wanganui company DML Builders has done some work on the site, but removed its hoardings last week.
Tauranga-based central North Island builders Watts & Hughes Construction may get the contract to tackle the multimillion-dollar building, contact person Mark Gutry said.
"We have got a letter of intent as preferred contractor. We should hear whether funding is in place by Friday, and there's nothing to suggest that it won't be."
The Chronicle understood that W&W Construction 2010 would subcontract to Watts & Hughes Construction but W&W director Glenn Wadsworth was unwilling to comment.
Wanganui District Council principal planner Jonathan Barrett said Mr Efstratiou had all the building and resource consents needed to start the build.
The whole job would be done all at once, to avoid an empty section of Victoria Ave shops and to avoid Farmers' new building opening in the the middle of a construction site.
"This should be a huge injection of confidence in the economy of Wanganui," said Mr Barrett.