Wairoa Mayor Craig Little savours the ambience of new community hub Gemmells on Parade. Photo / Paul Taylor
Wairoa Mayor Craig Little savours the ambience of new community hub Gemmells on Parade. Photo / Paul Taylor
Wairoa’s ability to rise above adversity is being shown again with the development of new tourism and community hub around the burnt-out site of former Marine Parade anchor Angus Gemmell Ltd.
Just as the town’s vista changed with the building of a new State Highway 2 bridge after the destructionof the former concrete landmark across the Wairoa River in Cyclone Bola in 1987, a new future for the shopping centre is emerging.
The development of Ahi Kōmau – Gemmells on Parade, on the site of the Gemmells building fire 12 years ago, comes as the town still tries to recover from the devastation caused by Cyclone Gabrielle in February 2023.
The upper floor of the building was gutted by the fire in 2012, and Angus Gemmell Hardware, Cafe Jafa and Bradbury Jeweller relocated, leaving behind a site which became described as a “dangerous eyesore”.
The crew at Gemmells, the cafe in new Wairoa business centre development Gemmells on Parade. Photo / Paul Taylor
Eventually sold for $1, the building was gutted to leave just the concrete columns and beams of the structural skeleton to make way for the conversion, and the opening five months ago of a community hub comprising Gemmells on Parade, beauty treatment parlour Beauty Antix, and healthy living outlet Jay’s Nutribox.
Mayor Craig Little and users agree it wouldn’t be out of place in the hub of Queen St in Auckland or some of the city’s swankier suburban centres, but it’s just the start of a transformation bringing a greater focus to the shopping area from which mainly family-run businesses have been slowly disappearing over the years.
There have been few new takers, despite the potential of a riverside frontage and one of the great town-centre outlooks in Hawke’s Bay.
The next step is the relocation of the I-Site visitor information centre Intercity bus stop from Paul St, on State Highway 2 just south of the bridge, to a transformed Winters building site, adjacent to Gemmells on Parade.
Under the over-arching concept of Te Wairoa E Whanake – Rise Up and Grow Wairoa, it’s part of a collaborative Marine Parade makeover supported by the Provincial Growth Fund.
Little says among the next steps will be to create greater “connection” between the shopping centre and the scenery of the riverbank across the road, but at the same time the mayor, council and town are still calling for help to rehome those still without permanent accommodation, 15 months after evacuating in the floodwaters of the latest cyclone.
At least 90 people in the town are still without homes. “We need help,” he says.
At the time of the opening, Deputy Mayor Denise Eaglesome-Karekare described the Gemmells site rebuild as a model of how Wairoa can move forward in its recovery.
“This is the result of a vision and collaboration, and shows what can happen when our community unites,” she said.
Doug Laing is a senior reporter with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 50 years of journalism experience in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities. He travelled to Wairoa to file this report.
