Bold revamp for Tauranga city centre

An ambitious project to revamp the central city has been unveiled, with plans for a new civic centre, museum and more green space.

The plan has been put forward by the Civic Amenities Group (CAG), chaired by Tauranga property developer Paul Adams. The development would be based on creating a new cornerstone civic centre funded by a $35 million community bond, on the site of the now empty old civic administration building.

The bond would allow community trusts and individuals to invest in the ownership of the new civic centre, and avoid Tauranga City Council encumbering ratepayers with additional debt, said Mr Adams.

It was envisaged the council would lease back the new building at an estimated $3 million annually. That would be similar to the cost of borrowing the funds to remediate, maintain and operate the existing buildings, he said. A lease-back would avoid increasing ratepayer-funded debt, while allowing those interested in investing in the city's future to hold a tradeable bond that returned a yield.

"Councils don't have to own buildings," he said.

The group's proposed development option also envisaged retrofitting the existing council chamber building adjoining the library to create a $10 million museum, creating a needed arts and cultural centre in the central business district.

"As the fifth largest city in New Zealand, Tauranga cannot operate professionally and efficiently without a fit-for-purpose civic centre," said Mr Adams.

"The only options are to either refurbish and refit the existing buildings, or build a new civic centre on city-owned land. That can be achieved at a similar cost, while creating a new vibrancy and heart to the CBD."

Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby said the the council saw the demise of one of its buildings and issues with another as an opportunity, not just for housing council staff but for a major revitalisation of the city centre generally.

"So the council and CAG are definitely on the same page with regard to that."

Mr Crosby said it had always been an option in the current civic strategy to remove the now empty civic building and create a more open civic space.

"Tauranga needs a proper civic centre and a heart. We really don't have one but I have no doubt that in five years we will have."

He confirmed that if the council decided not to rebuild for itself, it was open to the option of getting someone else in to build a new civic centre and lease it back.

"We will be looking at the community bond proposal and at all funding options," he said.

The council was discussing the proposal and also looking at ways in which it could leverage budget provisions in the 10-year plan, he said.

"By early next year we'll be in a position to start refining how we are going to go about housing our civic needs."

Mr Adams said elected members needed to focus on the most effective solution and not get bogged down in expensive over-analysis and consultation, resulting in no action. "This could move ahead as soon as elected members make a decision, so it is incumbent on them to act decisively and promptly," he said. "It makes no sense wasting further time and significant expense discussing this amenity, while ratepayer money continues to be spent on rented office space. There is a window of opportunity now aligning funding and energy from a group of civic and business leaders who don't want to wait around any longer for some action on civic amenities."

Council chief executive Garry Poole said there were inevitably differences between the way the private sector and elected bodies approached things. "I think we're very fortunate to have the CAG's input. It's a case of making sure we get an effective moulding of both the public and private way of doing things."