Marton main street redevelopment aims to reinvigorate town

A section of Marton's main street Broadway, owned by Simon Loudon's company Interceptor Properties, will be redeveloped into commercial properties and accommodation. Photo / Fin Ocheduszko Brown

Redevelopments are in store for Marton’s main street to help revitalise the town centre.

Buildings at 216-226 Broadway have been demolished in preparation for a revitalised look being done by Interceptor Properties.

The buildings were most recently Marton Outdoor Power, Wally’s Bookshop and a Chinese takeaway.

The heritage-listed building at 212 Broadway is protected and will not be demolished.

Simon Loudon, of Interceptor Properties, plans to build two new architecturally designed commercial buildings with apartments upstairs and two townhouses on the rear sites overlooking Marton Park.

Felicity Wallace architects designed the buildings.

Loudon said plans had been in the works for a few years and it had been a “slow process” with completing reports, dealing with resource consents and understanding the best use of the site.

“We saw an opportunity to create a nice commercial and living environment associated with the park - it is a very nice uplift,” Loudon said.

“This is an exciting new development in Marton and marks a change in our district.”

The project is separate from the Rangitīkei District Council’s decision to revitalise Marton’s main street over the next few years.

Wallace said the revitalisation of the buildings was needed because they had worn down aesthetically.

“We are really keen to do something really positive for the town because these buildings don’t have heritage value, unfortunately, because they have been altered so much over the years,” she said.

Loudon was pleased the buildings were finally demolished and progress could be made.

“The buildings have essentially been vacant for a little while now and everybody asks what is happening there,” he said.

“There is a lot of interest in these buildings coming down and what could be done within our town.”

He hoped the redevelopment would reinvigorate the town and its businesses as well as attract people to live in the town centre.

There were 26 heritage-listed buildings in the town centre, making it hard to develop and revitalise large portions of Marton, he said.

There were few two-storeyed, earthquake-strengthened properties in the region.

“It’s going to give opportunity to new businesses to be here because they are going to be in a nice, new and secure environment,” Loudon said.

Demolition began on September 11, with Loudon and Wallace hoping to start building towards the end of 2026.

However, if archaeologists discover anything historic, the project may have to be stalled for a year while they inspect the site.

Fin Ocheduszko Brown is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.