Museum group eyes club site

Modern Museum Group member Rob Paterson inside the former Cosmopolitan Club in Miro St. The group plans to put forward a proposal for a "modest museum'' at the site. Photo / George Novak

Tauranga City Council has called for expressions of interest to lease the former Mount Cosmopolitan Club - and the Modern Museum Group has already expressed an interest.

The two-storey council-owned property in Miro St, which has 99 carpark spaces and loading areas, has remained vacant since the club moved premises in December 2010.

The plan was to allow the site to provide extra parking for Blake Park during weekend sports. However, the site was recently removed from the original Blake Park redevelopment resource consent after council successfully obtained a consent variation.

The independent commissioner's decision took account of a traffic impact assessment report.

Council is offering interested parties the opportunity to enter into a lease arrangement of up to 10 years, with a site visit last week, and written proposals due to lodged by October 21.

Solicitor and Modern Museum Group spokesperson Rob Paterson confirmed the group would be putting forward a written proposal on the basis the former Cosmopolitan Club site would be an almost perfect location for a "modest museum" under a rent-free, rates-free lease arrangement.

"It's not only very close to where cruise ships come in, it's close to the airport and the bus services travelling along Maunganui Rd. The site has lot of pluses going for it ... and given its closeness to Blake Park there would already be a captive audience," he said.

Mr Paterson said the group would not be proposing to run the museum alone, but he and the other members believed it did not need $25 million-$30 million to get a museum off the ground.

Council candidate Richard Moore said he believed the old building would be a perfect location for a drug-free and alcohol-free youth centre for the youth of Mount Maunganui and Papamoa.

Tauranga Moana Museum Trust secretary John Coster disagreed. "Not only is the building not suitable, but the site is impractical as everything would get wet in the event of a major tsunami." He said the board's preference remained with the council-owned Cliff Rd site because it had a number of advantages not least was that the land came rent free.