A potential purchaser has been found for a $3 million council-owned commercial property in the hub of one of Tauranga's busiest road interchanges.
Council property manager Anthony Averill said a conditional sales contract was signed last week for the 7640sq m site in Marsh St.
The property which formerly heldPlacemakers and a tile business was originally purchased by the council as part of the acquisitions needed to build the second harbour bridge and flyover. Mr Averill hoped the contract would go unconditional in mid-February.
He was unable to disclose the identity of the purchaser or its potential use until the contract went unconditional.
There was speculation when Progressive Enterprises failed to win approval last month to build a Countdown supermarket at Bureta that it might switch its focus to acquiring the Marsh St site. Its plans for the Bureta Motor Inn site included a 4600sq m supermarket and carpark - a size easily accommodated by the Marsh St site.
Another possibility was that the country's other supermarket giant Foodstuffs saw the land as being strategically important in case Progressive won its appeal to the Environment Court.
Mr Averill would not disclose the sale price for the property which was currently in two titles - 9 and 15 Marsh St.
The 1895sq m property at 15 Marsh St had a rateable land value of $460,000 while the adjoining 5745sq m property at 9 Marsh St was valued at $2.43 million. The block had been on the market for six months and ended up attracting strong interest from two parties. Prior to that it was offered for tender. A service lane running under the flyover links the property with the Bay Central Shopping Centre on Chapel St.
