Tauranga CBD projects: How a city is being transformed

Tauranga’s central city has endured chronic disruption amid a massive transformation in recent years, with some businesses struggling to stay afloat and others leaving the area altogether. But the man overseeing much of the development believes the tough times will be worth it in the long run. On the cusp of a new beginning for the city’s central area, Gareth Wallis talks to reporter Kiri Gillespie.

Gareth Wallis steps out of a newly-purposed building in Tauranga’s Red Square and offers a wave.

The Tauranga City Council general manager of city development and partnerships says his team is now based in the central city to ensure they “are in the thick of it” along with other CBD-based businesses.

The “it” Wallis refers to is years’ worth of disruption, construction, noise and road cones as plans continue to transform the city’s centre into something people can be proud of. It is all expected to be completed within the next few years.

For some, the incessant work has already become too much. Businesses have moved out of the area, citing roadworks and a lack of free parking. Others, facing dwindling sales and having just scraped through the Covid pandemic, have pleaded for the council to retain its waterfront carpark, considered crucial for customers and staff. Ratepayers opposing the $306 million civic precinct build have also been vocal.

Wallis says he knows it’s been tough but believes the disruption will be worth it in the long run.

Being based centrally means his team are on hand to answer questions from anyone who knocks on the door. They face the same disruption - and issues trying to find parking - as other CBD-based workers. It’s a deliberate move to better connect with what people are experiencing, Wallis says.

“We know the city centre is going to be a mess.”

To help counter this, the council plans to create “sanctuary spaces” in two to three CBD spots where people can go to escape the noise and ugliness of all of the construction, he says.

The cobblestones of Red Square between The Strand and Spring St are expected to become such a space. Our meeting in the square is also the beginning of a tour of the CBD’s biggest projects, all contributing to a transformation of the city.

Tauranga: A change is gonna come

Looking across the square, large iron sheets rise out of the ground at 2 Devonport Rd - a site many people knew as the Westpac Building. That building is no longer there but, eventually, a new multi-storey base for Craigs Investment Partners will take its place.

Wallis explains the project is about a year behind because of challenging ground conditions.

Once completed, the Craigs team will move in and their existing site on Durham St will be taken over by the University of Waikato as part of the city’s Knowledge Precinct plans.

This Knowledge Precinct is expected to become one of several in the central city such as a Justice Precinct, Retail and Commercial Precinct, and Waterfront Precinct.

Development of 90 Devonport, which will become Tauranga City Council’s new office. Photo / Alex Cairns

Walking past the worksite, contributing to the Retail and Commerical Precinct, Wallis explains that the blocked-off area is much smaller than it would have been years ago. This too is another deliberate move.

“Because back in the day, about five years ago, there wasn’t necessarily a lot of interest in building in the city centre. [The council was] very permissive at how many car parks they [developers] could take up.

“A couple of years ago, the commissioners challenged that, saying they’d need to pay for car parks. It made them [developers] think about what space they actually needed for construction ... how they impacted neighbouring businesses.

“We want people to invest, so I can see why [the council] did what [it] did, but we are very conscious of the impact on other city centre users. With parking, in particular, we got initial pushback from developers but it’s made a difference,” Wallis says.

The ‘Crown jewel’ of Tauranga’s CBD future

Further along, past the new pop-up art gallery and new temporary library space - each relocated due to their own transformation works - large wooden beams tower above the council’s new office space at 90 Devonport Rd.

“One floor a month, eight stories, 10,000sq m, 6-green star rating,” Wallis says.

“The exciting thing for our city is all of our staff will be together for the first time since 2014. That’s 700 people in the city centre every day. That really starts to make a difference to that critical mass of people, that starts to drive business and spending, which hopefully helps.

“This is a big deal for the city, just like Farmers is.”

Contractors can be seen working on Elizabeth Towers, also known as the Farmers building, on Devonport Rd. Photo / Alex Cairns

Elizabeth Towers.

Elizabeth Towers, commonly known as the “Farmers building”, at the intersection of Devonport Rd and Elizabeth St, is largely considered the cornerstone of the CBD’s push towards a rebirth. It was the first major investment from the private sector in the central city for years, Wallis says.

The building is expected to house 300 people in apartments above a retail area including Farmers, Whitcoulls and Pascoes on the ground floor and restaurant Picnicka on a mezzanine. Work on a linear garden outside is expected to be completed by Easter and it is anticipated people will move into the apartments from February.

Wallis calls the building the “Crown jewel” of the city centre’s transformation and it helped to deliver “what we needed, when we needed it”.

“We are really fortunate the James Pascoe Group made a commitment and said ‘we want to invest’. That was when the city really was on the back foot,” Wallis says.

“They’ve spent $200 million on that building [and the apartments are] due to go on sale early in the new year.

“From my point of view, when that’s full of 300 people living in the city centre, that’s going to change how it feels every day here, that’s going to make a difference. You add that to our 700 people in the council building, it’s definitely a once-in-a-generation moment.”

Investment, precincts and ‘something meaningful’

Beyond the fenced-off worksite that is Elizabeth St east, Tunks Reserve is also being redeveloped. Once completed, it will offer a beautified green space with steps heading down to the southern end of The Strand, helping people to connect with the waterfront and Matapihi rail causeway bridge. Cyclists have been considered, with a “runner” installed next to the steps to allow bikes abumpless trip up or down.

From the Elizabeth St and Devonport Rd intersection, Wallis looks up to 160-176 and explains the council’s plans to turn the strategic land holding into a carpark for 110 vehicles. There were no plans for the space in the immediate future so the council felt it could benefit drivers visiting or working in the city for now.

“The amount of civic investment is phenomenal.”

A contractor carries out planting preparation on a hill at Tunks Reserve between Elizabeth St east and The Strand. Photo / Alex Cairns

More than $1.5 billion of public and private investment has been committed to CBD projects within the next few years. This includes $88.7m redevelopment of the waterfront plus the $306m civic precinct project Te Manawataki O Te Papa - $151.5m of which ratepayers will contribute.

Wallis lists other developments such as a Northern Quarter, a new $208m courthouse, plus the expansion of the University of Waikato, which is expected to bring more students into the CBD.

“The tides are turning for our poor old central city which has really struggled over the last few years.”

Many commercial and retail premises were up for lease in Tauranga CBD earlier this year. Photo / Alex Cairns

Wallis credits council commissioners Anne Tolley, Shadrach Rolleston, Bill Wasley and Stephen Selwood, saying they “came in and early on they decided to do something meaningful”.

“They said the single best thing we could do was invest and we were going to create something that people were going to want to be a part of.”

Asked at what sacrifice, Wallis says: “We are really cognisant of the frustration and impact that this is having.”

Tauranga: ‘No car parks in the city’

Parking has been one of the more contentious issues the council has grappled with in recent years. When the council closed the waterfront carpark, also known as the reclamation carpark, on October 30, opposition and upset was rife with CBD workers concerned at a drop in business and safe spaces for staff to park after hours.

But what once served as easy access parking for 147 vehicles will be transformed.

The northern end closest to Dive Cres will be a mostly flat, green area to allow for events and gatherings, while the area of the existing Edgewater Fan will be replaced by rolling, meandering green space. Basketball courts and a new destination playground will sit in between.

The area will framed by an upgraded “living” seawall and a new wharf or jetty area aimed at tying in with the flow Te Manawataki o Te Papa.

The waterfront’s popular Hairy Maclary sculptures, funded by the community, will remain.

“All of that, done by summer next year,” Wallis says.

The area already has its first booking - the Bay of Plenty Garden and Art Festival, he says.

The area isn’t much to look at now. What was typically a view of cars in rows has been replaced by heavy machinery and 8000 tonnes of rocks and boulders.

Asked how the council plans to attract people to the central city if the most popular car parks have been removed, Wallis says: “By the middle of next year, we’ll have 350 car parks added to the city centre”.

In his opinion: “[Many] people don’t understand the depth of conversation that goes into every decision that’s made.

“When people say there are no car parks in the city ... there are. You might have to walk a little further or you might have to pay for it, but there are absolutely car parks.”

Wallis said an October survey of Spring St carpark found that it was only 60 per cent full.

“It seems some argue they can’t park outside the shop they want to go to and pay for it,” he says. In his view: “It’s not reasonable for the fifth-largest city in New Zealand, and the fastest-growing.”

Tauranga’s journey to become a ‘grown-up city’

Further north outside the newly renovated Cargo Shed, where the northern seawall is being upgraded and a new blue sea sponge was discovered, Wallis says looks across to the nearly completed redeveloped Dive Cres carpark.

Wallis rates this as one of the projects he was most proud of “because it looks nice”.

“It looks like we are proud of our city and developed a space that’s actually attractive and that continues along the waterfront.

“This is one of the main routes into town. It looks tidy. It fits in a grown-up city, which we are.”

Wallis says everything being worked on to help transform the central city is expected to be completed in the next two to five years.

And it’s long overdue, he says.

“Our city centre was a little bit average, if I’m honest. The commissioners decided to do something about that, they did it by investing.”

Wallis says he looks forward to having a place “that people don’t moan about, they can come into the city, eat - have a meal - hang out at the waterfront as part of that experience and think that we are proud of our city centre”.

“Because at the moment, not many people are.”

The Tauranga projects that will ‘make a real difference’

Wallis again credits the commissioners, saying they made a decision “and stuck to it”.

“That’s allowed us as a council to actually get onto stuff,” he says.

“With these projects, we’ve got this real chance to change that dial with our community that was real low.”

The tour continues and we tres up to the corner of Hamilton St and Willow St - what will become the Northern Quarter.

Construction is underway at JWL Investment Trust’s Northern Quarter project on Hamilton St. Photo / Alex Cairns

Two towers being built at the site of the former Sunny’s building are expected to become home to Hobec lawyers and others.

“Every single development again brings people into the city centre,” Wallis said.

Less than a block west, work continues on the construction of Panorama Towers - an office and car parking building to replace the failed Harington St Transport Hub.

“Again, from our point of view, this is exciting because there’s development of more office space coming. There has to be 200 public car parks here ... that will make a real difference to the city centre,” Wallis says.

Panorama Towers, expected to reach 14 storeys once the last of the resource consents are approved, will stand across the road from Te Manawataki o Te Papa’s library and community hub, civic whare and museum.

“It’s just weird that we don’t have a museum. Two warehouses in the Mount are full of our taonga. We haven’t been able to share with our city,” Wallis says.

But is it worth it?

Standing outside Baycourt Theatre, which will have its own less dramatic refresh, Wallis looks over the Hamilton St, Willow St and Wharf St footprint of what will become the new civic precinct Te Manawataki o Te Papa. There isn’t a lot of physical construction happening now but Wallis promises, “this will be a different space”.

People can expect to see builders on-site from the early new year and the overhaul of Masonic Park and waterfront should be completed by this time next year.

Asked whether all of the disruption, construction and impact to businesses will be worth it, Wallis believes it will be.

“Yeah, there’s some significant transformation coming that I think will move us from that relatively sad state of the last five, 10 years to something that hopefully draws people in and it’s a city centre that we’re all proud of. But we are acutely aware of the impact that it’s going to have on the city centre in the short term.

An artist's impression of what Te Manawataki o Te Papa, Tauranga's future civic precinct, will look like. Image / Supplied

Tauranga's future civic precinct Te Manawataki o Te Papa site as it looks today. Photo / Alex Cairns

“So the disruption, the road cones the one-way streets, the noise and I guess, as council, we’re doing quite a lot of things to try and mitigate that.”

Wallis refers to a $1.5m City Centre Development Investment Fund “so that we can pivot and respond really quickly to great ideas that might help businesses in the short term”.

“But ultimately, I guess the saying is ‘short-term pain, long-term gain’ and we genuinely believe that the investment that we’re making - coupled with over a billion dollars’ worth of investment from the private sector - is genuinely going to make a difference and be worthwhile for the community and for our city in the long run.”

The fund was repurposed in April as a way to support growth and development of the city centre, and allocated $500,000 a year for three years for this purpose.

As of October 16, the council spent $610,796 on initiatives to attract and retain people in the CBD area, such as commissioning public art, e-bike and scooter storage, feasibility studies into student accommodation and business mentoring.

Other ideas to draw people in to the city include the Tauranga Moana Bomb Comp held earlier this month, and a light display along the city’s waterfront.

Wallis says the council is doing what it can to help CBD businesses feeling the pain from the constant construction but its focus was clear - to build a vibrant central city people wanted to be in.

As Wallis prepares to leave for a meeting, he looks out across the CBD and reiterates words that must, by now, have become a mantra for all of those involved - “it will be worth it”.

“People will walk around thinking this is great. They will be proud of this,” Wallis says.

Tauranga CBD from the air. Photo / NZME