Spark confirmed as first tenant in building
Spark has become the first tenant of Takiri House, Coastlands’ two-storey development currently under construction.
Spark Kapiti will move to the building, opposite the Kapiti Coast District Council building, in late May.
Owner Vicky Cooper said the Rimu Rd location was more accessible for customers than their current site on Ihakara St, south of the mall complex. The new building was close to the Coastlands entrance, the council and the library.
Coastlands centre manager Jan Forrest said Spark helped to complete the Coastlands ‘‘retail picture’’.
‘‘Spark’s a really good tenant to have, and they’re a soughtafter business. It’s a different scale of business to what they’ve had previously.’’
Kapiti man James Tanirau, who manages Spark’s Willis St store, will move to the Takiri House outlet.
Takiri House is the first of several planned developments at Coastlands. Work on the $3 million project began in August last year. The building is due for completion in May and will contain shops, cafes and offices. It will be about 400 square metres on both levels.
Forrest estimated there would be about eight tenants in the new building.
Coastlands director Richard Mansell said the mall was moving with the times.
‘‘With the changes to Kapiti’s demographics through developments such as the expressway and our better connectivity to the city we are of the mind that more and more larger and national brands will recognise the need to be here in Kapiti.’’
Coastlands plans to expand further, but Forrest said they would lease more space in Takiri House before looking at the next stage. Coastlands own a 4.2 hectare paddock south of the council building.
The build resulted in the relocation of 44 carparks to the old Palmers Garden Centre site, northwest of the mall. It is named after the late Takiri Love, an original Coastlands shareholder who put her land holdings into Coastlands in return for shares when it opened in 1969.