Te Puke Economic Development Group CEO Mark Boyle and Western Bay mayor Garry Webber on the spot where an interchange will be built to access the Rangiuru Business Park.
A court decision has paved the way to develop an industrial park on Tauranga's doorstep with the potential to employ up to 4000 people.
Handily located near Te Puke and the rapidly growing suburb of Papamoa East, the 225ha Rangiuru Business Park has passed its last planning hurdle.
Issues associated with the layout of the park have been resolved through the Environment Court, clearing the way for the Bay of Plenty Regional Council's investment arm Quayside Holdings to begin development.
Strategically located within an easy drive of Rotorua and Whakatane, and offering direct access to the port along the Tauranga Eastern Link, local government and business leaders talked optimistically about its prospects.
''We believe it is financially attractive for development now,'' Quayside Holdings CEO Scott Hamilton said.
Western Bay mayor Garry Webber said the business park would tap into the tremendous growth being experienced by the kiwifruit industry.
"The message we are getting is that the kiwifruit industry is going to double in the next 10 years,"
He predicted that the Bay's biggest greenfield industrial site would also become a significant logistics centre because of its location along road and rail corridors that funnelled into the "jewel in the crown" of the Bay - the deep water Port of Tauranga.
"It lends itself to all sorts of opportunities. This is one of the reasons why central government invested almost half a billion dollars into the Eastern Link."
Mr Hamilton said 3000 to 4000 people could be employed by industries attracted to set up business on the 148ha available for development. The other 77ha were needed for infrastructure like roads and stormwater ponds.
Changes to the original 2008 consent had altered the staged layout of the development, so it lined up with the intersection with the Eastern Link. The location of the 2.6ha retail and office service area was also changed, so it fitted all four stages.
Mr Hamilton said limits were put on commercial floor areas, so it met the basic shopping needs of workers and did not become a destination retail centre.
The end result of the changes in which the appellants Bluehaven Management and Rotorua District Council settled out of court, was that the park was made more attractive to a developer.
Mr Hamilton said the park was large enough to accommodate a bit of everything, including distribution centres.
Te Puke Economic Development Group CEO Mark Boyle (left) and Western Bay Mayor Garry Webber on the spot where an interchange will be built to access the Rangiuru Business Park. Photo/John Borren
Te Puke Economic Development Group CEO Mark Boyle said the court order was great news for Te Puke and the Bay and was the town's biggest growth incentive for years. It meant more jobs and more people coming to live in the Te Puke district.
"It is a terrific location, with terrific access to the labour pools of Te Puke and Tauranga - it is a very significant industrial site."
Mr Boyle said the park had already attracted a lot of interest from New Zealand and overseas.
Regional council deputy chair and Quayside board member Jane Nees said there were a lot of reasons why the park's time had come.
Quayside was keen to attract anchor tenants to provide a nucleus for the park. It met needs identified in SmartGrowth and anchored the business case for the Tauranga Eastern Link, she said.
Tauranga Chamber of Commerce CEO Stan Gregec said the park was conveniently linked to the city and port and opened up more options because of the rapid development of the Tauriko Business Estate.
"Over time it will evolve into a key industrial hub for the region."
He said its location meant it would attract certain types of industries like a horticultural processing cluster. A lot of other things were going on locally like getting a research centre established in the region that focused on horticulture.
Mr Gregec said there was a merging going on between Tauranga and Te Puke because of the transport infrastructure.
Rangiuru Business Park Land purchased: 2005 Area: 225 hectares Original rezoning consent: 2008 Amended consent: April 25, 2017 Stage one: 35 hectares
