Tauranga CBD revamp could include museum, hotel, civic whare to encourage connection to city 'heart'

Thursday, 2 December 2021

The plans are vital to bring central Tauranga back to life, Tauranga City Council commission chair Anne Tolley says. Pictured is a preliminary artist impression.

A museum, hotel and new civic whare form part of proposed plans to refresh Tauranga’s civic precinct, with an initial costing for part of the project sitting at $270-$300 million.

The proposal will be formally presented at a Tauranga City Council meeting on Monday, where the recommendation will be to accept it, SunLive reported.

Council has an agreement with Willis Bond to deliver the project as part of a refreshed version of the Civic Masterplan developed in 2017.

Studio Pacific Architecture has led the design process.

Back in 2019, Tauranga retailers described the CBD as being in 'crisis', with about 160 empty shops. (This video was first published on September 10, 2019.

* In Tauranga, it pays to be a commissioner, not a city councillor

Shortly after Anne Tolley was appointed commission chair for Tauranga City Council, she spoke of the city needing a “defibrillator” to bring it back to life.

Speaking at a presentation on Wednesday highlighting the proposed civic masterplan refresh, she made her belief clear that these plans were integral to delivering the electric shock needed to bring central Tauranga back to life.

“The fifth largest city in New Zealand needs to have a heart that its people feel connected to,” Tauranga City Council commission chair Anne Tolley says.

That is something she is hoping the civic precinct refresh will address, SunLive reported.

“We want the heart of Tauranga to be a place where people can see themselves in,” Tolley said.

“We want it to be a place they can be proud of and take their visitors and say, this is the heart of Tauranga city.”

She said that when consulting for the long-term plan earlier this year she found residents had a range of emotions regarding the state of the city centre.

These included anger, despair, frustration and ennui, as well as “deep grief, anguish and hurt” from mana whenua over lost opportunities for the city.

Tauranga City Council has an agreement with Willis Bond to deliver a central city refresh, and Studio Pacific Architecture has led the design process.

“We want it to be a place they feel connected to,” Tolley said.

“That somehow, it represents something in their lives. We want the civic centre to be something that the Tauranga City Council, during the time of this commission, can deliver for the people of Tauranga.”

Tolley said the council will be looking at several funding methods to reduce the possible financial impact of the build on ratepayers, SunLive reported.

Speaking to the attendees, described as the “movers and shakers” of Tauranga, Tolley said she wants them to talk to people in the community to help deliver the ambitious project.

“There will be the naysayers,” she said.

“There will be people who say we can’t afford it, we shouldn't be doing it, we don't want this bit or we don’t want that bit.

Multiple sites and buildings are part of the vision for the city’s heart, which is linked to a refreshed version of the Civic Masterplan developed in 2017.

“But the fifth largest city in New Zealand needs to have a heart that its people feel connected to.”

Council chief executive Marty Grenfell admitted to the assembled guests that plans of this nature have been presented previously and failed to meet fruition.

However, he believes the city is currently in a unique position to deliver this proposal due to the current city leadership structure, SunLive reported.

“The biggest difference has nothing to do with the masterplan itself,” he said.

“It’s about civic leadership and governance. This is the first time in 140 years that this city has had a different governance model at the helm. So we have an opportunity, a point in time, where we believe we can make the decisions, commit to an outcome and deliver the outcomes on the ground.”

Willis Bond director Wayne Silver said their focus and the brief from council was not only to focus on the buildings but the activities that could be encouraged in and around them.

The development would be divided into three sections.

Site A would encompass the Willow St developments and Masonic Park, Site B the Durham St block and Site C the waterfront area.

A new library and a civic whare would be part of the development.

Site A of the redevelopment proposal will see a museum and adjoining exhibition and events centre in place at the current Our Place location on Willow Street.

A civic whare building, described as a bicultural location for democratic process to take place, will also be present.

A brand new modernised library will be erected in place of the current structure and council building. Baycourt Theatre and Tauranga Art Gallery will remain in place.

A hotel and performing arts and conference centre is proposed for the Site B development on Durham Street whilst a new wharf and wharewaka are planned to be installed at the end of Wharf Street, forming Site C.

The waterfront inclusion is one of the key changes to the original masterplan from 2017, SunLive reported.

The changes will also impact transport in the area, with buses no longer set to use the Willow Street hub and a “detuning” of moving traffic in the streets involved part of the process.

Silver said the area sits in the literal and metaphorical heart of the city, surrounded by the educational, recreational, shopping and commercial precincts and its rejuvenation is key to igniting Tauranga city.

“When the heart is not beating we know what happens to the natural body,” he says.

“We can see that all around with the sad state the CBD is in right now.”

He also thanked mana whenua for their input and information regarding the history of the land, suggesting their input was a major difference to the initial 2017 proposal.

“It has been one of the great pleasures of this project for me to learn the history of the land and I would encourage you if you don’t know it,” Silver said.

“It is a remarkable story.”

A provisional projection of cost currently includes just Site A and Site C and sits at $270-$300 million.

Silver was quick to point out this is an initial projection and a more accurate estimation may be coming down the track - which will also include Site B.

A construction start date for mid-2022 is pencilled in and work will be ongoing concurrently on different sites at the same time to expedite the construction process.

Silver said this could speed up the build by eight years, with an end date of 2028 the aim, and reduce the cost when compared to a sequential build.

Tolley said that, after the council meeting on Monday, staff will be tasked with returning costing analysis and options for funding by the end of February.

She confirmed an amendment will be needed in the LTP and that will require community consultation, SunLive reported.

Sharp Tudhope law partner John Gordon praised the “fantastic” plans and asked what could be done from the business community to ensure the plans go through in one stage.

“It is in the interest of the business community to have this happen because it adds value to our buildings in the city and it all grows on itself.”

What proved to be a collective concern among Wednesday’s attendees was that plans could fall by the wayside after October, when the commission passes over council leadership after local elections.

Tolley said the commission was working on that.

“I think we have been very open about the fact that we are doing as much as we can to embed as much as we can before we take the risks.

“Our terms of reference require us to provide an exit plan and we are in the process of doing that with the (Local Government) Minister (Nanaia Mahuta).

“That is a big part of what are the risks ahead for some of the decisions that need to be made.”

The proposal will be forwarded at Monday’s council meeting with the recommendation it is adopted.