First, Costco opened but soon a multimillion-dollar collection of new fast food stores, a new Tesla outlet and Asian supermarket are coming to Mark Gunton’s Westgate Town Centre.
In yet another coup for the Southland farmer whose next phase will bring housing to his site, Gunton’sNZ Retail Property Group is developing a four-in-a-row quick-service restaurant offering for brands owned by NZX-listed Restaurant Brands and Tahua Partners.
KFC, Carls Jr., Taco Bell and Starbucks will be lined up beside each other in the new building, nearly finished.
Gunton is a station leaseholder, valuer, shopping centre developer, apartment builder and big game hunter. His Argyle Station has the Crown pastoral lease of northern Southland’s historic 13,777ha property at Waikaia where he runs around 50,000 animals, including 12,500 ewes, 1250 cows and 3500 red deer hinds.
Mark Gunton, founder and owner of NZ Retail Property Group which built Omana North. Photo / Nick Reid
But in Auckland, he sold land to Costco and is now quietly building an entirely new retail hub beside the popular discount Costco Fuel, opened early last year.
Construction of the new Tesla store is yet to begin but that will be to the north of Costco Fuel. A new large-format Asian supermarket Foodie will open beside these new buildings.
In July, the Herald reported Tesla ramping up its local presence with the opening of a giant new facility in South Auckland.
Now, the EV business is about to leap out on to Auckand’s north-west fringe.
Plans for the new Tesla Westgate, as shown on NZRPG's site. The store will be near the existing Mega Mitre 10. Photo / NZRPG
“Tesla South” is 28,780sq m, or the size of three rugby fields, Chris Keall reported on July 29. It has a showroom, a service centre, a delivery area, an area where cars are prepared before being handed over to customers and a huge parts warehouse at 147 Kirkbride Rd, Māngere.
The Westgate Telsa outlet is a new addition to the EV brand’s rapid expansion in NZ.
NZRPG plans show the neighbouring food outlet drive-throughs are being built beneath a two-level building for the four-in-a-row food shops, with a gym Planet Fitness space in the upper floor.
A Restaurant Brands spokeswoman said no opening date for that company’s three outlets had yet been announced.
“We’re always excited to open new stores as we see ourselves as an important part of the New Zealand community. We take many factors into consideration to determine the best location for our new stores including traffic, visibility, and easy access. And, we’ve chosen to open stores of three of our well-loved brands – KFC, Taco Bell and Carl’s Jr. – here to give our customers a range of options,” the spokeswoman said.
KFC already has an existing Westgate store at Massey, on Don Buck Rd but whether that will continue in what is essentially the ‘old Westgate’ on the city side of the project is unknown.
Legacy Construction is well advanced on the four new restaurants beside Costco Fuel which traditionally in other cities has fast food offerings nearby.
Costco on Gunton Drive, Westgate, West Auckland. Photo / Jed Bradley
The site is near the corner of Kakano Rd and Maki St, across the Maki St from the existing Costco Wholesale Westgate which opened on September 28 last year.
Nearby is the existing 16,000sq m Mega Mitre 10, Resene, Dulux, NZ Safety and a Stihl store.
An inquiry to Tesla about its new Westgate store has met with no response so far.
This closer-up image shows plans for the drive-thru under each of the four Restaurant Brands' outlets beside Costco Fuel (bottom right) on Kakano Rd. Photo / NZRPG
Campbell Barbour, NZRPG general manager, was reluctant to talk about the expansion of Tesla and the food outlets, saying announcements should come from those tenants, not him.
But he did acknowledge that construction of the new food precinct beside Costco Fuel was well advanced.
NZRPG had not sold the land to Restaurant Brands or Tahua. Instead, it is developing the site and has leased the premises on long-term contracts to the food giants.
The fast-food building’s base build is due to be finished in the next few months, then extensive store fitouts will begin, with the lessees taking charge.
Plans for Westgate's Costco Fuel originally showed the large new food complex to one side. Photo / NZ Retail Property Group
When these new shops open is yet to be announced.
The new precinct recently got Boulder Co., a climbing gym, as well as Bargain Chemist.
“Construction is currently under way to bring an additional 21 retail sites,” NZRPG says. But it doesn’t specify who those 21 are.
NZRPG says many shops will soon open on its site “nestled alongside Costco. The site will welcome a collection of well-known brands including Tesla, Baby Bunting, JB Hi-Fi, Hunting and Fishing, Super Cheap Auto and food brands Taco Bell, KFC, Carl’s Junior, Starbucks and many more.”
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 23 years, has won many awards, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
