Development plan forges ahead
The latest stage of a high-profile, high-end housing development in Palmerston North is taking shape.
Phase two of wallace Development Company’s Centennial Park residential subdivision is scheduled to be finished in December and it’s already changing the face of Centennial Drive. Its 47 sections, at the southern end of the development, are some of about 130 lots the company is creating, ready for houses to be built, across three stages.
Stage one, with 28 sections, was finished last year. All those sections have been sold and homes are springing up. Thirteen sections from stage two have already been sold.
Hoult Contractors was awarded the job for stages one and two, which involves creating the infrastructure to get the sections ready for builders.
Buildings at Manukura School’s former kura awa campus were being demolished and the gym was coming down, Wallace Development Manawatu regional manager Vanessa Thompson said.
It was hoped concrete blocks from the campus could be used as part of fill, because the ground would need to be raised by ametre on average across the site. That work started this week.
‘‘It’s got to be very significantly engineered,’’ Wallace said. ‘‘It’s a unique product. I think people recognised that you’ve only got one shot to buy a section overlooking the golf course or overlooking the lagoon, and when it’s gone it’s gone.’’
Sections varied from those suitable for smaller townhouses to larger sizes, Thompson said.
The average section size for stage two is 550 square metres. The smallest is 321sqm and the biggest just over 1079sqm.
‘‘We will recognise that people are moving away from the quarter-acre section mentality and a lot of people love the idea of a lock-and-leave scenario.’’
At the foot of the Manawatu¯ River stopbanks, the memorial grove of trees planted to remember Manawatu¯ Teachers’ College staff and students who had died will remain. Plaques found nearby would be incorporated into a planned sculpture, Thompson said.
Ruahine Reserve sits in the top right corner of the stage two, the one-time site of a Rangitane settlement. Wallace Development would vest that land to the Palmerston North City Council, which would develop it with the iwi, she said.
An archaeological consultant was working with the developers. Given the proximity to the site of stage two, protocol had been developed for if taonga were found
There will be public access through stage two, towards the south end, between the riverbank and Centennial Rd.
Thompson said three pou, or poles, would represent an ariki, or a leader, on a waka. There would typically be three ariki, one at the front watching wave formations for signs of land, one in the middle studying the wind, and one at the back looking at the constellations.
‘‘They’re going to be placed strategically in the reserve area. We hope to light it up at night to be a really nice acknowledgement to the Rangitane iwi.’’
Wallace Development bought the land in May 2016. Stage three is in the pipeline.