New Four Square in Tekapo
The first business in a multimillion dollar lakeside development in Tekapo will open next week.
A new Four Square will officially open its doors to customers on Wednesday.
The lakeside development by the Mackenzie District COuncil includes a five-star hotel, a commercial area, a youth hostel, car parking, a playground and landscaping, and Earth and Sky’s new headquarters.
Mackenzie District Mayor Graham Smith could not give a total value for the development until all the building details of businesses involved had been collated.
‘‘What I can say is that YHA building consents have been approved and will be the next to start [being built].’’
Tekapo-based councillor Murray Cox said there had been ‘‘a lot of things happening behind the scenes’’.
‘‘Things may look a bit slow on the ground, as people don’t see a lot of buildings being built.’’
The new supermarket would ‘‘certainly be a big bonus for the town’’, providing more for locals and attracting more businesses to the area, he said.
‘‘When you look at the resident population of Tekapo it wouldn’t support a large supermarket, but once you factor in tourists and people who stay in holiday homes, that’s when it makes sense.’’
Locals currently had to travel to Twizel or Fairlie to visit a big supermarket.
Four Square owner-operator Russell Jeffries said opening the new Tekapo store, which was four times bigger than its predecessor, was ‘‘extremely exciting’’ and he was not sad about closing the current store on Sunday.
His family had been running the town’s supermarket for the last 32 years, he said.
Foodstuffs South Island Four Square group manager Steve Alexander said it was good news that the long-awaited supermarket was opening.
Construction of the supermarket began in October last year.
Cox said car parking around the supermarket would be expanded to keep up with increased traffic flow in the west end of the town.
The development of Lakeside Drive – which includes an upgrade to stormwater systems, the widening of the road and the demolition of the old public toilets – was expected to be finished by the end of July.
Work on new playground equipment and domain landscaping was expected to have started by October.
‘‘By 2018 you’d expect to see quite a bit of building,’’ Cox said.
"[There’s been] a lot of things happening behind the scene." Mackenzie District councillor Murray Cox