A concept image of the new Pukemokimoki Apartments to be built on the site of the former Napier Artillery Barracks in Owen St, Napier. Photo / Supplied
A concept image of the new Pukemokimoki Apartments to be built on the site of the former Napier Artillery Barracks in Owen St, Napier. Photo / Supplied
A major milestone in Napier Treaty settlements and the use of resources from them has been reached, with the start of the first of five projects delivering 400 new homes in the city over the next few years.
The former Owen St Artillery Barracks, between Kennedy Rd and ThackeraySt, less than 1km from the Napier CBD, will be demolished to make way for a three-level development of 24, 1-2 bedroom affordable rental apartments.
To be named Pukemokimoki, its site was blessed as more than 60 whānau traipsed through the building at dawn on Friday.
Just three hours later, crews moved in to erect safety fencing and hoardings, the start of a project Mana Ahuriri Trust chair Te Kaha Hawaikirangi said should be completed by the end of next year.
The trust, a post-settlement governance entity (PGSE) for seven shoreline hapū of once-expansive waterway Te Whanganui ā Orotu (Napier inner harbour), hopes movement on other properties will take place by the end of the year.
The former Napier artillery barracks, and the Owen St site fenced off by contractors just hours after the blessing on Friday morning, ahead of demolition and the building of 24 apartments. Photo / Doug Laing
Hawaikirangi said that includes tenders for the biggest project - about 200 homes off Wharerangi Rd, Greenmeadows - and its ownership of former railways land leased by Pak’nSave and Burger King.
All the land is part of Mana Ahuriri’s Treaty settlement, with other residential developments planned including currently vacant former railways land south of the supermarket and bounded by Raffles, Munro and Latham streets and the railway line.
Pukemokimoki development will be led by TW Construction, represented during the blessing by regional manager Kelly Allan.
Hawaikirangi’s handing of a key to Allan was a symbolic moment for everyone, with an add-on for the pair, who each served as Army territorial force volunteers in 7 Battalion Hawke’s Bay, based in the old buildings.
Some others had also worked in the buildings when they were the offices of iwi Ahuriri constituent agency Te Taiwhenua o Te Whanganui ā Orotu, now based in nearby Wellesley Rd.
Pōhatu Paku, left, and Te Kaha Hawaikirangi at the launch of Ka Uruora. Photo / Supplied
Hawaikirangi said the name Pukemokimoki, which was also applied to the urban marae at the eastern end of Maraenui Park when it opened in 2007, highlighted the significance of the area.
Hill-island Pukemokimoki stood off the western end of Mataruahou (now the Napier hills), and was levelled by the Napier Harbour Board in reclamations starting in the 1860s and 1870s, despite the “whanga” and the island being specifically excluded from Crown purchases.
Further land emerged from the waterway in the 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake.
Pukemokimoki will become the third multi-level apartment block in the area, after the opening of two unrelated developments in Wellesley Rd in the last year.
Whānau also gathered at Waiohiki Marae on Saturday to celebrate the launch of Ka Uruora Te Matau-a-Māui – a Mana Ahuriri partnership with Hastings PSGE Tamatea Pōkai Whenua, and whānau Māori financial, housing wellbeing services provider Ka Uruora.
Ka Uruora Te Matau-a-Māui will deliver housing pathways for whānau – including discounted rentals, rent-to-buy, and shared equity schemes – alongside financial education programmes to prepare for home ownership.
“By joining forces with Ka Uruora, we are not just building homes – we are building futures where our whānau can flourish for generations,” Hawaikirangi said.
Tamatea Pōkai Whenua chair Pōhatu Paku said: “Our whānau cannot afford to wait for change to arrive from elsewhere.”
Ka Uruora chair Jamie Tuuta said: “When iwi work together with determination and purpose, we can create systemic change. This kaupapa is about more than bricks and mortar.”
Doug Laing has been reporter for more 52 years, more than 40 of them in Hawke’s Bay, at the Central Hawke’s Bay Press, the Napier Daily Telegraph and, Hawke’s Bay Today, since its establishment in 1999. He has covered most aspects of general news and sport.
