Whanganui’s St John’s Hill shopping centre for sale; property developer sought

The St John's Hill shopping centre is up for sale with the owners hoping it will be picked up by a keen-eyed developer who will upgrade it.

A large commercial site in the heart of St John’s Hill is up for sale with the owner hoping it will be developed into an upgraded shopping centre for the community.

The site at 13-15 Great North Rd and 3 St Leonard St includes two commercial buildings which house a pharmacy, Four Square store and bakery, alongside a residential and villa section.

A fire in November last year gutted the HillTop Fish Supply and destroyed a 40-year-old hair salon on the site.

Damage from the fire forced the HillTop Fish Supply, Shirley McDouall School of Dance and Hair Creations to move out of the property.

The section is owned by Bristol Properties, which involves two family trusts.

Frank Bristol, who is the manager of Bristol Properties, said now the trustees and beneficiaries were getting older they had decided to sell the site.

The site at 13-15 Great North Rd and 3 St Leonard St includes two commercial buildings and a residential and villa section.

He would like to see it remain a shopping centre and ideally for the buildings to be upgraded to make it into a more thriving hub for St John’s Hill.

“It’s the first time it has come on to the market for about 55 years,” Bristol said.

“We thought it was time to hand over the vision to someone who could really redevelop the property.”

In 1967, Bristol’s late uncle owned a butcher’s shop that was leased out of the Maypole Supermarket on the corner of St Leonard St and Great North Rd.

“The owners [of the Maypole Supermarket] decided to start selling meat and they were asking my dad and uncle to leave the premises – but they didn’t want to leave St John’s Hill.

“So they ended up approaching the surrounding properties and acquiring them and building that shopping centre.

“By the time they had to exit the lease in the butcher’s shop, they were able to rebuild and carry on selling meat to the good people of St John’s Hill.”

Bayleys real estate agent Amie Rowan said there was “a lot of potential for the site” because of its prime location on St John’s Hill and with the flow of traffic along State Highway 3.

“We are aiming at developers; obviously there was the fire that happened there so there will be some work that’s required for anyone who does want to come along and put an offer in there,” Rowan said.

“It’s not really for investors; I mean they could if they’re happy to do a bit of work and keep the income that’s existing, but definitely developers would be the ones to go for.”

In total, the site has a land area of 1948sq m and includes a large villa which is split into three tenanted flats.

Bristol said the residential property was acquired for extra car parks but was never converted and, if the zoning was able to be changed, there could be the potential to add apartments on to the shopping centre.

“It’s been a very busy and well-tenanted shopping centre for a long time so we’d hope that it would continue to be so.”

He said he had heard from the tenants who moved out because of the fire that they would like to return to the site if they were given the opportunity.

“It’d be good to get those buildings rebuilt for the tenants who were affected by fire.”

Rowan said if a developer wanted to go down the route of trying to get resource consent to potentially move the shopping centre back, they could possibly extend the site.

“I think it’ll serve the St John’s suburb really well once there’s something nice and updated.”

Bristol said the popularity of the shops and the way the site served the community showed it was a significant parcel of land with good potential.

Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering health stories and general news. She began as a reporter in 2023.