Major retail projects underway across city

Artist's impression of Mount Central, to be built on the corner of Maunganui Rd and Banks Ave roundabout. Image/Supplied

By Christmas next year Tauranga residents will have more places to do their shopping with a range of multimillion dollar retail developments scheduled for completion in 2016. The combined cost of the projects is more than $150 million.

The largest development, Tauranga Crossing, located at the entrance to the Tauriko Business Estate, is due for completion in August next year.

The $100 million project will include major retailers The Warehouse and Pak'n Save.

Businesses at the $12 million Pyes Pa Retail Centre on Pyes Pa Rd are already opening their doors. A major development in central Mount Maunganui and upgrades for shopping centres at Bethlehem and Papamoa are also scheduled for completion next year.

Read more about the developments here: More than $150m of Bay retail developments

Bethlehem Town Centre manager Andrew Wadsworth said the fit-out of the eagerly-awaited Tauranga Kmart store would begin early next year, with the doors set to open in March or April.

Some existing centre retailers were soon to relocate to new shops in the Kmart complex and Pita Pit was due to open in early 2016.

Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby said Tauranga City Council had zoned commercial areas in suburbs like Papamoa, Bethlehem and Pyes Pa and the private sector had taken early action on these. They acted ahead of time with Papamoa Plaza and Bethlehem Town Centre and were definitely doing the same at Tauriko, he said.

"They're prepared to lose for five years. They have a long-term view," he said.

Mr Crosby said Tauranga's city centre was changing from retail to fundamentally business.

"There will always be retail, but the mix of retail is changing. It is going out to the suburbs."

In five years' time, Mr Crosby said, the picture of Tauranga CBD would be very different, and much improved.

The changes would be led by the arrival of TrustPower, which will bring 500 staff to the city centre in February, as well as stage one of the University of Waikato's Tauranga campus and the upgrade of the council itself.

Annie Hill, projects manager at economic development agency Priority One, said the shopping centre development was a reflection of investors' confidence in the city. "They're actually seeing us as a high-growth area where their investment is going to make a return for them," she said.

Mrs Hill said the region's population grew 22.8 per cent between 2001 and 2013 and now had the growth in jobs to sustain this influx.

Trade Me job listings in Tauranga for the third quarter of this year showed a 26.7 per cent increase on last year - the highest job growth of any region in the country. Having shopping centres in suburbs supported the local economy and prevented congestion in the city, Mrs Hill said.

Meanwhile, the city centre was in a period of transition into a commercial centre with niche retail, supported by increasing numbers of people working in the CBD and a strong cafe culture, she said.

Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Stan Gregec said he did not see too many downsides to the shopping centre development.