Editorial: Brighter horizons with Carrus

The Tauranga building and development community could not have received better news with Carrus Corporation taking over the unfinished Lakes residential subdivision in Pyes Pa west.

Carrus, operating in the region for 22 years, has the vision and wherewithal to complete the 2000-section project, including neighbourhood shopping centre, that began in 2005. Only a third of it had been developed and sold.

Unlike the previous developer Grasshopper Farms, Carrus has very little debt riding on the project. Carrus' chairman Paul Adams is passionate about the growth of Tauranga - not just in property development - and he will make sure the job is done properly.

After plunging into receivership early last year, The Lakes could have so easily been broken up and the undeveloped land sold to different parties with different ideas.

But The Lakes eventually fell into the right hands. Carrus will make sure the subdivision retains its style - $15 million was spent on land/streetscaping - and ensure it becomes a shining light for urban design and planning in the country.

Carrus showed faith in buying the whole 254-hectare site, and in doing so provided a spur for the city.

Business confidence is slowly returning following four years of the recession and Carrus picked a good time to kickstart residential building. It believes it can create its own market.

Many builders have been starved of work. Carrus has provided them with good reason, and flexible terms, to buy sections and build spec, albeit quality, houses. And then draw in the buyers.

Sections have been re-priced according to latest market conditions - the unsold ones have reduced between $20,000 and $30,000.

Interestingly, Carrus will also be challenging the planners. The intention with new urban design is to mix more intensive living, in the form of townhouses on 300 sq m, with the traditional standalone houses and their adequate sections.

Mr Adams believes the majority of Tauranga buyers still want their space with 600 sq m sections - and The Lakes, out in the countryside, will be better off with less medium to high-density housing. That approach, more suitable for inner-city living, could have slowed buying.

He will be seeking variations to the private plan change for The Lakes. But that doesn't mean The Lakes won't be the epitome of modern living. The subdivision has already set the standard and more traditional sections will do away with any image of "slum-like" housing through high-density living.

Mr Adams has stuck his hand up to re-ignite residential development in the city, and others will surely follow.