Tauranga's civic precinct: A silver bullet or red herring?

Monday, 28 February 2022

An artist impression of a multimillion-dollar proposal to revamp Tauranga’s CBD, focussing on the area where the current library and council chambers are.

Tauranga’s proposed $300 million civic precinct is being touted as a “once in a generation” opportunity for the community, but some business owners are dubious about its benefits.

Work on the civic precinct Te Manawataki o Te Papa is set to begin later this year, but Tauranga City council will consult with the community on two options as part of the draft annual plan process.

The precinct would be located where the current library and council chambers resided, between Wharf Street and Hamilton Street in central Tauranga.

Option one, which would see the full precinct realised in one stage, had an estimated cost of $303.4 million and included a library, museum, civic whare (a venue for council and community meetings) and an exhibition space.

Work on the precinct, Te Manawataki o Te Papa, is due to begin later in 2022 – but there are two options that Tauranga City Council will consult on.

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It would also include the development of the waterfront reserve, between Hamilton and Wharf Streets, linking the harbour with the civic precinct via Masonic Park.

Fancy That owner Bill Campbell finds the Tauranga civic precinct “hard to get excited about”.

Option two was a scaled back version that would include a library and community hub and the civic whare, with a cost of $126.8 million.

Barrel Room owner Stewart Gebbie, who has owned the Wharf Street bar for five years, said the “plans look great” but he was concerned the area would be used infrequently.

“We need more people in the city before building a huge facility like that,” said Gebbie.

“This on its own, isn’t going to bring people into town.”

He was concerned Tauranga didn't have the population for facilities like this, and it was putting the 'cart before the horse'.

Central Tauranga had long been plagued with empty shops and dwindling business. In part, because of older buildings requiring seismic strengthening and also Tauranga’s urban sprawl which had seen shopping centres developed in the suburbs.

Retailer Bill Campbell has owned specialty store Fancy That since 2008 and was demoralised by the state of the CBD.

“I think the city centre is past the point of no return,” he said.

“It's just going to take so long for the whole area to recover.

Commissioner Stephen Selwood commented “the city has clearly died”, though others disagreed. Pictured is one of the empty shops on Tauranga's Devonport Road.

“The CBD needs far more constructive and instantaneous repairs and maintenance before we need the civic precinct,” said Campbell.

Commissioner Stephen Selwood said “the city has clearly died” in Monday’s council meeting about the civic precinct. He was referencing a recent walk through the CBD.

Downtown Tauranga is a not-for-profit organisation that represents Tauranga city centre business members.

Its chairman, Brian Berry, disagreed with Selwood's comments.

“It's not dying, it's just changing,” he said.

“The CBD was going to have to go through this process,” said Berry.

“It can’t compete as a retail centre against the suburban shopping centres, so the retail needs to become more specialty.”

Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Matt Cowley agreed with Berry.

“I found it disappointing that Commissioner Selwood has been quoted as saying the ‘city centre has died’,” said Cowley.

“The long list of private sector developments that are underway, or are in the pipeline, shows there is confidence in Tauranga CBD.”

Selwood was, however, in full support of the precinct. He said: “This is our unique opportunity to put Tauranga on the map, not only to wider New Zealand but also to the people of Tauranga”.

The precinct provides an opportunity “to put Tauranga on the map”, Commissioner Stephen Selwood said.

Short term impacts

Gebbie’s biggest fear was the impact construction of the precinct would have on his business in the short term.

“It's going to be years of pain for central city businesses.

“It's going to be awful for anyone within 500 meters of the work site,” said Gebbie.

If option one was chosen by the commissioners, council was proposing it would take six years to complete, but said if it was done in pieces, it could take up to 14 years.

Berry said the construction work was a “necessary evil”.

“You can't do that size of development without having disruption and it is difficult,” said Berry.

“I'm sure that when it's developed, every attempt will be made to mitigate the disruption.”

The chairman is in full support of the precinct and would like to see the full project completed in one stage because Tauranga had a “culture of getting things half done”.

“What has been proposed is excellent,” said Berry. “The big thing is to make the decision and get on with it and do it now because the city needs it.”

“Tauranga is moving away from being a small seaside town, to a regional business and cultural hub.

'The precinct is for the benefit of not only of the CBD, but of the whole community and greater region potentially.”

In terms of funding the large undertaking, half the cost of the civic precinct developments would be debt-funded and financed through rates. The balance would be funded from other sources such as government grants, the sale of non-core council assets and sponsorship.

Commission Chair Anne Tolley was eager for the community to engage in the consultation process.

“We are at a moment in time when we have the chance to do this once and do it properly, so it’s important that we hear what the community thinks about the options proposed,” said Tolley.

Community consultation on the civic precinct options would take place from March 25 until April 26.

The commission was expected to make a final decision about the civic precinct on June 27.