What the new Victoria St apartments are expected to look like.
What the new Victoria St apartments are expected to look like.
Kāinga Ora has built or is planning to build more than 600 homes in Rotorua by the end of next year.
The housing agency says it has about 500 homes being planned or under way and has completed 115 since June 2022.
The Rotorua Daily Post has collated the government housing arm’s planned building work that shows more than 60 developments are in the works at varying locations ranging from two homes to 36 homes across Rotorua.
Most of the developments are smaller, ranging from three to six homes, but there are at least two apartment builds planned for Rotorua’s central business district.
Ministry of Housing and Urban Development figures for November last year show there were 258 households (made up of 297 adults and 291 children) living in 21 emergency housing motels in Rotorua. There were also 933 applicants on the Public Housing Register.
Kāinga Ora has released details about its building programme in Rotorua in an interactive map that shows the number of houses planned, where they are, how big they are, what stages they are at, what companies are contracted to build some of the homes and whether resource consent has been granted.
The map shows there are 451 homes in the works. Kāinga Ora has also completed two larger building works in Rotorua, including 42 homes on Quartz Ave and 25 homes on the corner of Ranolf St and Malfroy Rd.
Additional to those mentioned in the map are 12 more apartments for the Ranolf St and Malfroy Rd site. These will be built alongside 24 apartments planned for two three-storey buildings on the site. The 24 apartments are included in the map.
The map also mentioned a planned Owhata Rd build on 3ha of empty farmland bought by Kāinga Ora for $2.35m. In 2022, when Kāinga Ora bought the land, it told the Rotorua Daily Post it intended to build between 50 and 60 homes.
Victoria St apartments
Among the new homes are 36 apartments planned for an empty site at 40 Victoria St, near Rotorua Central.
Auckland-based company Realm Victoria Ltd is building the apartments which will be sold to Kāinga Ora when finished.
The site was bought by Kāinga Ora in Februarylast yearfor $3.9 million. The site has been cleared but no building work has started.
An artist's impression of the new Victoria St apartments in Rotorua.
Kāinga Ora Bay of Plenty regional director Darren Toy said in a statement that the developer had advised work should start early this year and it was hoped all 36 apartments would be finished by the end of 2025.
Resource consent was to have been lodged the week before Christmas, the statement said.
These will be 15 two-bedroom apartments and 21 one-bedroom apartments. There will be 25 off-street parks, a children’s nature playground and landscaping and fruit trees.
Once the conditions of the contract were met, including resource and building consents and the houses had been completed, they would then become Kāinga Ora homes, Toy said.
Toy said it was good to see progress continuing for much-needed homes for Rotorua whānau. He said the Victoria St apartments would be well located for shops, services, schools and transport.
“We continue to explore ways to bring on more public housing homes in Rotorua, and continue to work with developers and other land owners, as well as redeveloping our own existing older properties.”
Three blocks of two-storey four-bedroom homes will be put on the Ranolf St and Malfroy Rd site.
Toy said 12 off-site manufactured apartments will be delivered on the Malfroy Rd and Ranolf St site by the middle of this year.
He said work to prepare the site had been completed, including civil works, foundations and services connections, in preparation for building to start early this year.
Resource consent had been granted and Kāinga Ora was in the final contract negotiations with the preferred build partner for the construction side.
Toy said the apartments were being built offsite and would be connected to services. Porches, decks and stairs would then be added.
What new three-storey Kāinga Ora apartments on the corner of Ranolf St and Malfroy Rd will look like.
The 24 apartments planned for the same site will be next and Toy said Kāinga Ora was in the final stages of the resource consent process with Rotorua Lakes Council.
Toy said Kāinga Ora was the developer for the project and procurement for its build partner was expected early this year.
Subject to consents, initial site civil works are expected to start in April and the main construction in the middle of this year.
It was hoped the apartments would be finished by late 2025 or early 2026.
Local developer pumps through work
Rotorua developer Tony Bradley said his two Kāinga Ora developments would be finished this year - only just over a year after he had signed the deals.
He has two developments, one for 15 houses on Fairy Springs Rd and the other for 20 homes on Lake Rd. The latter will be finished in May, just a year after it was started.
Tony Bradley at his Lake Rd Kāinga Ora development that will bring 20 new homes by May this year. Photo / Kelly Makiha
Normally a commercial property developer, Bradley said he was proud to be building quality public homes for locals at a time when housing was in dire need.
He said he was also proud to be “getting the job done” and delivering the homes not long after buying the land and signing deals with Kāinga Ora.
6 Mount View Dr, 3 homes, early planning stages and not confirmed
86-90 Wrigley Rd, 9 homes ready mid-2024
4-6 Ruth St, 6 homes, early planning stages and not confirmed
72 Mount View Dr, 3 homes, early planning stages and not confirmed
22 Pedlar St, 3 homes, early planning stages and not confirmed
46-48 Ford Rd & 1 and 1A Irene Pl, 9 homes, ready mid-2024
38-40 Meadowbank Cres, 10 homes, resource consent submitted November 2023, ready late 2024
11A & 11B Ford Rd, Wolfbrook Residential are building for KO, 8 new homes, ready early 2025
4 Delphi Pl, 3 homes, ready mid-2024
16 Pandora Ave, 3 homes, ready mid-2024
1 Hermes Pl, 3 homes, ready mid-2024
54 Devon St, 3 homes, ready mid-2024
28-32 Puriri Cres, 8 homes, ready mid-2024
161 Ranolf St, 2 homes, early planning stages and not confirmed
43 Rimu St, 2 homes, early planning stages and not confirmed
42-48 Clinkard Ave, 9 double-storey homes, resource consent submitted November 2023, ready late 2024
148 Malfroy Rd, Taiepa Nui Investments and CSD Developments building for KO, 6 homes, ready early 2024
93-111 Ranolf St, phase 2 of this development proposes 24 apartments within two 3-storey buildings, resource consent submitted mid-2023, homes available late 2025
15B Union St, replacing an existing home with 1 new home built by Western Heights High School students, ready mid-2024
40 Victoria St, Realm Victoria Ltd building for KO, 36 new apartments in three-storey buildings, ready late 2025
1453 Amohau St & 1450 Eruera St, 3 homes built by Rotorua Boys’ High School students, ready mid-2024
1446-1460 Pukuatua St, 10 double-storey homes, ready late 2024
139 Lake Rd, TPB Properties building for KO, 20 double-storey homes, ready late 2024
4 Alastair Ave, 3 new homes, resource consent submitted October 2023, ready late 2024
13 Milton Gr, 3 homes, early planning stages and not confirmed
2 Chaucer Pl, 3 homes, early planning stages and not confirmed
3 Bronte Pl, 3 homes, early planning stages and not confirmed
9 Mansfield Rd, Penny Homes building for KO, 49 homes, ready early 2026
Ōwhata Rd, KO is exploring options for this 3ha site bought in 2021, including looking at affordable and market housing (the Rotorua Daily Post reported in 2022 KO planned to build between 50 and 60 homes)
54 Reeve Rd, 3 homes, ready late 2024
3 Wharenui Rd, 5 homes, ready mid-2024
32 Sunrise Ave, 3 homes, resource consent submission late September 2023, ready mid-2024
26 Sequoia Cres, 3 homes, early planning stages and not confirmed
6 Beech Pl, 3 homes, early planning stages and not confirmed
11-13 Middleton Rd, 6 homes, no further details
Ranolf St and Malfroy Rd, 12 apartments to be built off-site, ready end 2024
Kāinga Ora’s completed homes
The 115 homes Kāinga Ora has completed in Rotorua since mid-2022 include:
Ranolf St and Malfroy Rd, 37 homes
Quartz Ave, 42 homes.
Source: Kāinga Ora
Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.
