Uncertainty over the future of Rotorua's City Focus looks set to drag on late into the year, with a fresh round of public consultation planned.
The consultation period will run from August 21 till the end of September. Locals will be asked to give their thoughts on a number of options for the future of City Focus, which are set to be developed over the coming weeks by the Rotorua Lakes Council's inner-city steering group.
Staff will report back to councillors on October 1 with the findings of the consultation.
A survey of 116 people carried out by council staff in January found 66 per cent of respondents believed there should be a review of the City Focus building.
A separate poll with only 19 responses found that 68 per cent were against demolishing the building.
Now, council staff appear to have decided that wider consultation is needed before pressing ahead any with major changes. At a council committee meeting this week there was unanimous agreement about the need to change the status quo at the City Focus building - but councillors were split on the prospect of demolition.
"It's done its day," said councillor Merepeka Raukawa-Tait, who appeared to criticise council staff's previous attempts at community engagement for not offering any alternatives for the space.
"I'm not surprised that 68 per cent said that they didn't want it removed, because you showed them nothing else," Mrs Raukawa-Tait said.
"That's what their feelings are tied up to, and that's what they'll go with ... Unless you put up something innovative and new that focuses on the future."
Councillor Karen Hunt, who leads the inner-city revitalisation portfolio, expressed a similar sentiment.
She warned against treating the building as a special case within the city's CBD.
"It [City Focus] no longer meets the needs [of the inner city], so whatever happens please take the wider view because we are at risk of just redoing that area in isolation."
The building dates back to the 1990s, at a time when $26 million was spent to revitalise Rotorua's inner city.
Councillor Charles Sturt accepted that there needed to be change - "but that doesn't mean revitalisation with a bulldozer".
Mr Sturt expressed concern about the possibility of going out for public consultation on the City Focus with any pre-conceived notions that the building should be demolished.
One of the more novel suggestions on the building's future came from councillor Rob Kent, who proposed the idea of a design competition to decide the look and feel of a future City Focus.
"If we do it properly we'll even have architects around the country coming up with ideas," he said.
The idea was met with interested murmurs from councillors present, although no further action appeared to be taken.