Editorial: City on the move

The Zen Building

It was just a few days ago I wrote about Rotorua and the district's growing attraction for out-of town investors.

I was writing about a proposed 100-room, four-star hotel planned for the suburb of Koutu and a recent economic report that stated Rotorua was the fastest-growing region in New Zealand.

Today, the Rotorua Daily Post reveals that one of the central city's iconic sites, the old Woodcorp building, now know as the Zen Centre, is to be purchased by property investors the Chow brothers.

They want to convert it into a new 150-room, four-star hotel as they expand their property portfolio, and said they could see Rotorua's potential, especially for the burgeoning Asian tourism market.

I walked past it the other day and I see all of the tenants have already moved out.

If it does go ahead, it will really liven up the central city with hundreds of tourists just a hop, step and jump from our pubs, clubs and restaurants.

Not to mention the jobs it would create.

Love it or hate it, Rotorua is once again on the move. It's like a sleeping giant awakening from decades of quiet slumber.

I suspect the sudden change in Rotorua's fortunes is not going to please everybody. Many of the changes put in place by the new-look Rotorua Lakes Council have received plenty of attention - good and bad - but change is inevitable.

I like that people from outside our region are looking over the fence and finding a surprise in the city.

Affordable, good-quality property, a robust and growing economy and friendly people.

We have to move with the times or get left behind, much like the debate regarding online voting, with most of the nay-sayers from a generation of people who like to post letters. I'm sure it was the same when the country changed to the metric system, or when Copernicus proved the Earth moved around the Sun and spun on its own axis.