New yard, showroom for Turners
A NEW Turners car yard and showroom is coming to 112 Anzac Ave, site of Dunedin’s former Display n Sell, as the used car dealership outgrows its current site.
A resource consent has been granted by the Dunedin City Council for the 9045sq m area, which is double the size of the company’s existing Portsmouth Dr premises.
Turners Group NZ chief executive Greg Hedgepeth said he was ‘‘very excited’’ to lease the new site, expected to open next March.
It allowed for a bigger outdoor display area, since more than half the cars Turners sold were on a ‘‘buy now’’ basis, rather than by auction.
About 300 cars would be housed on the new site at any one time, about 200 of them for sale and the remainder being prepared.
‘‘At any given time there are quite a lot of cars being prepared,’’ Mr Hedgepeth said.
More jobs would be in the offing as stock was brought in, building on the 17 staff Turners already had in the city.
‘‘[The expansion is] a testament to the city of Dunedin, the growth that’s going on here.’’
The layout included 27 car parks for customers, and 10 for staff; and the business would open seven days a week.
At present, the old Display n Sell building is home to Lime Scooters, Geeves Scaffolding and Sirona Dental, and the outside area is used by bus company Ritchies for storage.
The site is part of a 20,710sq m s block owned by landlords in Palmerston North.
The remainder of the land is leased by Otago Polytechnic.
Effects on the University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic had been assessed and considered to be less than minor, the consent said.
One condition the council had imposed was retaining and planting out the existing landscaping strips along the frontage of Anzac Ave and Minerva St.
Renovation of the building is expected to start soon.