Centre expansion moves ahead

The new Smiths City site.

As work nears completion on the last major building project at Rotorua Central, its developers are turning their minds to their next project - which will bring at least one new business to town.

Retailer Smith City snapped up the last major site in the complex and building work on the store is almost finished ahead of it being handed over to the company next month to complete the internal fit-out.

Pukeroa Oruawhata client manager Peter Faulkner of Deloitte said it was a milestone to have the building work due to be completed next month. It had been more than a decade since there'd been no construction work on site, he said.

With no plans for future development on the site in the next few years, Mr Faulkner said they were now turning their focus to Trade Central where a third building with two new businesses was planned.

Mr Faulkner said construction of the new building - which would be about 1200sq m - would start "if not before Christmas then shortly after".

It would take 34-36 weeks to build with two tenants lined up. Mr Faulkner wouldn't reveal who they were but said at least one was a new business to town.

He said there weren't any plans for future development at the Central Mall site in the foreseeable future. Once Smith City moved in at the end of the year, they would be more or less fully tenanted, he said.

"It's going to be great [to have them moved in]. They complement the existing offering on site.

"It will be good to have the site complete and fully functioning as a retail site."

Mr Faulkner said there were still a couple of kiosk spots available in the covered-in section of the mall but they were "essentially fully tenanted".

Meanwhile, Mokoia Community Association co-ordinator Leigh Richards-Ward said she hadn't heard what would be going into the empty space left when Smith City moved out of its Te Ngae location.

The Te Ngae community has lost several businesses with the Te Ngae PostShop and Z on Te Ngae Rd closing earlier this year. Last year, the community lost its medical centre and pharmacy, which relocated into the Redwoods Centre.

"It is always a worry when you have businesses moving out of the area but, hopefully, people will see the potential in the area."