Manufacturing, industry and commerce
There’s a large commercial/industrial area in Onekawa West bounded by Taradale Road, Prebensen Drive and the Napier Hastings Expressway which offers quick and easy access to the Port of Napier and Hawke’s Bay Airport. It’s a hop, skip and a jump to Napier City and only a 15-minute drive to Hastings. Sandwiched between two busy roads, Taradale and Kennedy, Onekawa has two distinct identities that roughly align to both sides of Kennedy Road. The residential side of the suburb has a park, an aquatic centre and a small shopping centre, including a supermarket.
Cross busy Taradale Road and the area changes from residential to industrial. There are several amenities and services along Taradale Road (SH50) including vet clinics, a service station, a carpet retailer, a fitness centre, several decorating outlets and a hardware store. There’s also a bar and liquor outlet and a popular Thai restaurant. Adding to the variety are plumbing supplies, automotive parts and at the end of the road is a fire station.
The large thriving commercial/industrial area across Taradale Road stretches across to Prebensen Drive which is steadily being enlarged and includes a large hardware outlet, a variety store and vehicle dealership.
The diversity of businesses is quite extraordinary. In fact if it’s industrial or commercial or even a manufacturing business you’ll probably find it in Onekawa-metal recyclers, engineers, glass suppliers, used car and truck dealers, security businesses, trimmers and upholsterers, collision repairers, a curtain studio, cold storage, an upholsterer, panel beaters, scooters, auto parts, transport, wheel alignments and a driving school.
Needless to say, due to the number of businesses and workers, there are several food outlets, cafes and bakeries here. There’s also a barber shop. The street names will be familiar to locals: Niven Street, Carnegie Road, Dunlop Road and Ford Road where the diversity continues with many light engineering industries including BR Roofing who are local experts in both residential and commercial roofing and re-roofing. Cadbury Road is home to Flushed Drainage, a company that specialises in cleaning blocked drains, tree root removal, sump cleaning etc.
Dunlop Road is home to Onekawa Metal Recyclers, a locally owned, family run business with 80 years history.
The Crossing is a brand new multi-unit trade centre development on a 1.9 hectare site on Taradale Road just by the roundabout. Access will be via Taradale Road and Edmundson Street. When completed, planned for towards the end of 2021, this will be a hub for Napier’s trade, retailers and wholesalers.