Developer responds to concerns over application to vary consent for Timaru retail centre
Friday, 6 October 2023
The developer behind Timaru’s The Showgrounds retail centre has given an assurance that a large pile of dirt will be gone by May, and says, if successful, his latest application to vary consent conditions will allow greater flexibility for funding.
Timaru Mega Centre Limited Partnership lodged an application with the Timaru District Council on September 11 to change the conditions of its consent for 233 Evans St, The Showgrounds, to allow for subdivision of the property.
Council’s planning consultant John Cook then sought further information on seven key points on September 28. These included how the large pile of excavated material would be managed, and how infrastructure would be provided for the remaining lots.
TDHL sold 9.9ha of the 12ha site to the company in 2019 for $6.4 million, and the original subdivision plans were consented by the council in December 2020.
Following publication of Cook’s comments, Gapes said he wanted to clarify the reasons for lodging the application, and explained there had been two main consents issued for the development – a land use consent and a subdivision consent.
“The land use consent requires a staged development to meet current District Plan rules where we cannot have the completed development open until July 2027.
“The subdivision consent that we have has not catered for staging, but we have now asked council to allow for this.”
Gapes said the original subdivision consent was for nine titles which would “encompass the 9 buildings we are building under our masterplan”, as well as a separate title for a Lot which would include the car park, accessway and roads.
“We have asked council to vary the subdivision consent to allow for two stages, so we can get the first four titles issued.”
The titles are for the stage 1 buildings which house Bunnings, Countdown, the food and beverage and large format retail and another building with construction expected to start in the next couple of months once a building consent is issued, he said.
“Having the buildings sitting on separate Lots is common for developments of this nature, and provides us with some additional flexibility on funding.
“For example, if we look to have different banks involved, we can use the different lots as collateral.”
Gapes said this was “standard practice for developments and assets of this size and profile”.
He said he had asked the council to leave “the balance of the land, stage 2, in a single lot”.
“We will subdivide this into the remaining five titles when we install the necessary services, and build the buildings on this land.”
Gapes said the intention was always for the development to be built in stages “as required by our land use consent and the District Plan rules”.
“It is simply too big to do as a single stage.”
Gapes said “Hudson’s Hill” as he referred to it, having been named after the company’s development manager Paul Hudson, would be removed.
He said the large pile, which can be seen from all sides of the development, was “slowly getting smaller as it is being spread around the site, and should all be gone by May next year”.
Gapes said they were now finalising leasing for Stage 2 of the development, which will include tenancies ranging from 85m² to 260m².
He said that process was “going really well, and we’re excited to announce the anchor tenants for Stage 2 in the coming months as these negotiations are finalised”.
Marketing for that stage, listed online in July, indicated construction would begin at the end of the year, with completion expected by mid-2024. Health and beauty, service and food and beverage operators were being sought for the development, it said.
In August, Gapes announced plans for a business park on land neighbouring The Showgrounds. The proposal, for 3-7 Eversley St, includes the construction of 36 freehold commercial units between 40m² and 70m² in size.
He said that development was aimed at trade retail users and small business owners who would like to own their own premises.