John Ingham
A land use resource consent application lodged with Waipā council gives the first indication of how a former hardware and garden centre site in central Cambridge will look.
Ingham Motor Group owns and leases land on the corner of Queen Street and Lake Road, previously occupied by Australian-owned Bunnings.
In its commercial development application BCD Group, acting for Inghams, says the 6838 sq m site has an existing consent for a warehouse, timber yard, garden centre and retail area with associated carparks.
Bunnings closed down in 2020 after just over a decade in the town.
The site, a mixture of freehold and leasehold across three titles with a combined capital value of $5.37 million, is within a pedestrian frontage overlay and in the Cambridge B Character Precinct which requires resource consent to proceed.
The application dispenses with various commercial zone and transportation performance standards.
Waikato-based Ingham Motor Group gazumped the council to the site last year for an undisclosed sum and wants to establish a new showroom and workshop. The council wanted it for a new library.
The Ingham plans show three buildings comprising new vehicle showrooms, an outdoor used car display area, car parking and a standalone vehicle grooming and ancillary building.
The application contains a request for three six metre high, two metre wide pylon signs on Queen Street. Three commercial entities will operate from the site.
The site will be open seven days a week, provide work for 35 full time staff members with visitor numbers expect to be 50 to 80 customers a day.
Council received the application in February and has yet to take a position on its merits.
John Ingham
