Opinion: Stunning new building will be hidden away

New Mount Maunganui i-Site information centre concept. Image/supplied

Mount Maunganui will be getting a fancy new i-Site after Tauranga City Council voted on Wednesday to go for the "iconic" design.

The council had originally decided to pare back the costs by $1.5 million and go for a more basic design.

I find the iconic design stunning. The roof is so interesting and bold - it certainly looks unlike anything else I've seen in Tauranga.

It's awesome to see something different from the bland glass and steel look that dominates most other modern building designs I see proposed for the city.

What I struggle to understand is why the new building will be built on the site of the old visitor information centre.

In 2012, Tourism Bay of Plenty closed the centre down because the position, size of the set-up and road flow had not been right and it was losing the organisation money.

The council and Tourism Bay of Plenty had envisioned having a gate from the port funnelling all departing cruise ship passengers directly through the new Salisbury Ave i-Site.

But the Port of Tauranga has vetoed this idea, saying it would be unsafe to have passengers walking through a port operating area.

It's strange to me that the council is sticking to the Salisbury Ave location after the veto.

The current i-Port, which is set up in a huge marquee in front of the Salisbury Wharf gate, will continue to be the most effective way to market tourism ventures to cruise passengers who have no other choice than to walk through it.

Salisbury Ave isn't a main road, so a centre there will miss a lot of the walkers and drivers making their way through Mount Maunganui town centre.

That beautiful new building should be on display in a prime location where visitors and locals alike can easily find it and make good use of it.