Developer seeks cash for $100m Tauranga tower

Developer Paul Bowker is chasing down funding from overseas in the hope of getting his $100 million plus office and apartment development under way in downtown Tauranga.
"I've got feelers out everywhere; I'm working offshore at the moment to secure funds," he said.
"New Zealand is not a bad place to invest at the moment - interest rates are slightly better than the rest of the world."
Mr Bowker's company H&H Construction has plans for a landmark 15-storey office, apartment and retail complex on the 4380sq m carpark tucked in behind Devonport Rd and Elizabeth St, and next to Regency House, home of Inland Revenue and Bay of Plenty Regional Council.
The Strand City development, costing $100 million-$140 million, will include a shopping plaza, public square and walkway to The Strand waterfront.
A three-level carpark would be accessed from the southern end of The Strand and Elizabeth St, and Mr Bowker also wants to extend his Hotel on Devonport on the northern edge of the site by adding rooms and conference facilities.
H&H Construction headed off three other development companies in 2007 to secure the site, made up of five council-owned titles. Tauranga City Council wanted to promote more A-grade office accommodation in the central business district.
Mr Bowker said he would start development when funding was available. That could still take some time because of the recession and slow recovery, but he still believed in the long term viability of the project.
"In three to four years, if I've got the building done and there's no demand, then New Zealand, and Tauranga, would be in dire straits.
"At present, if one big corporate decides to come to town, we haven't got the [office] capacity," he said.
Mr Bowker said obtaining development money under normal terms in New Zealand was very difficult at the moment and he was hoping an overseas investor might fund the whole package.
"There are a lot of people with lots of money, and the development is not beyond the realms of their capacity. It all depends who wants to stand as the first mortgage holder."
Mr Bowker built the 15-level Devonport Towers, the first high-rise in downtown Tauranga, and now he wants to repeat the exercise on a site next door three times bigger.
Strand City will have at least three floors of offices, totalling 7000-8000sq m in space.
Above them will be 50-60 apartments that will be more spacious than in the Devonport Towers.