South Island's biggest bulk retail centre planned for Rolleston

The Team Reporter from The Press

Rolleston near Christchurch could become home to the South Island’s biggest bulk shopping centre if a plan by property developer the Carter Group gets the go-ahead.

To be called The Station, the development would have about 50 stores and eateries, including a large hardware barn and parking for almost 2000 cars.

The 18-hectare site is in the Rolleston industrial area near State Highway 1. It is part of the Christchurch-based Carter Group’s $500 million Iport business park.

The land is opposite a 6-hectare site where the developer obtained resource consent in 2020 to build a Costco warehouse with about 875 car parks.

Carter Group director Tim Carter said The Station would be the South Island’s biggest outdoor shopping complex, and one-and-a-half times bigger than Tower Junction, Christchurch’s largest bulk retail complex.

It would have entrances off Jones Rd, Iport Dr, Link Dr and Hoskyns Rd, and include new internal roads.

Carter said they had been in negotiations with a number of potential tenants, including hardware chains.

“We now want to get on and get it consented, so we can sit down and focus on cementing agreements with tenants.”

He said he was unable to comment on any plans to build the Costco store.

Despite the Costco consent, the Carter Group would need to secure a deal with the American retail giant to go ahead with the project. The retailer has discount member-only bulk-buy stores around the world selling groceries and other items.

Costco will open its first New Zealand outlet in Auckland next month, and has announced an interest in expanding to Wellington and Christchurch.

Carter said that if Selwyn District Council approves the resource consent application for The Station, construction would start next year. It would be built in stages over several years.

They were confident of obtaining consent, he said, as zoning allowed bulk retail use and only minor matters of earthworks, waste management and access needed to be addressed.

The consent sketch plan shows a hardware barn at the north-west corner of the site, with a large furniture store and about 25 medium-sized stores selling goods including homewares, home furnishings, books, electronics, sporting goods, clothing and footwear, and auto parts.

About 20 smaller tenants in the centre of the complex could include food and drink outlets, a bank, post store, pharmacy, hair salon, and real estate office.

The Station plan includes space for a potential park-and-ride facility and bus station, alongside Rolleston’s existing city-bound railway station.

The Carter Group has recently argued that a flyover to be built by Waka Kotahi linking Rolleston residential and industrial areas should be angled to end near Iport and the railway station.

A park-and-ride could then be used for residents to catch buses, and in future trains, into the city, it says.

Carter said while this facility would be very helpful for Rolleston, it was not vital to the success of The Station.

Last year the Carter Group applied to the council to rezone 98 hectares nearby, between Two Chain Rd and Main South Rd, from rural to industrial.

The group also has plans for a subdivision with 2100 homes and a commercial area in Rolleston, but its rezoning application was turned down by the council earlier this year. The Carter Group has appealed the decision to the Environment Court, but a hearing date is yet to be set.

Another Christchurch developer, Cooper Developments, is seeking tenants for a planned town centre style shopping centre on the residential side of the town, to be called Rolleston Fields.