Proposed community centre seeking tenants
There will be meeting rooms galore in the new community centre planned for Mana.
St Barnabas Church, at 106 Mana Esplanade, is to undergo a $3.5 million upgrade, likely to start next year.
More than $2.4m has already been raised, through fundraising and selling some assets.
Two houses next door will be removed to make sufficient room for the development and extra car parking.
Fundraising campaign manager Paul Latham said although it was a private venture, the six meeting rooms, a children’s area and a new hall would be available for public use.
‘‘What we want is for groups to register their interest with us,’’ he said. ‘‘People will see a lot of construction happening in the next year and we think the location is going to be perfect for many clubs, businesses and organisations to be based. This is about far more than church activities.’’
The chapel and main church space would remain the same, Latham said, with the new development built around it, to be hopefully completed by the end of 2017.