Interest high in first stage of giant mall

Construction of the 24,000sq m first phase of The Base, near Hamilton, is well advanced.

More than half of the new shops in the first stage of the $80 million Base shopping mall near Hamilton have been leased.

Mike Pohia, chief executive of Tainui Group Holdings, said 60 per cent of the shops had either been leased or terms and conditions had been agreed with new tenants.

Construction started in October last year on the 24,000sq m fully enclosed mall.

In the New Year, Tainui hopes to begin work on stage two which will expand the mall to 73,000sq m or 7.3ha of internal floorspace.

The Base is at Te Rapa and Farmers Trading Company is an anchor tenant with an 8000sq m store.

Tainui is also selling sections at its residential subdivision, Huntington Estate. Pohia said that in the last financial year, 16 sections were sold.

"But, in the first seven months of the current financial year we have already sold 30 sections and we are just coming into the traditional busy selling period," he said. "It is pleasing to see some early signs of growth in the region's economy."