A land swap between Nelson City Council and Foodstuffs South Island has paved the way for a new 3,229m2 New World supermarket in Stoke, while ensuring no parking is lost in Strawbridge Square.

The new supermarket will stretch across the western side of Strawbridge Square, crossing the Neale Avenue entrance and also covering the area currently occupied by the old Video Ezy building.

Council will use the land vacated by New World in the corner of the square to replace car parking lost due to the new development. Current plans show no loss of parking in the square.

The brand-new New World will be the latest generation store design, which when it opens, will have a larger food hall and a big focus on freshness and quality, as-well-as ensuring there’s a wide range of everyday essentials and ready-to-eat products, all tailored towards the needs of the Stoke community.

One thing that won’t be changing is the local owner operator of the store, Brendon Rae, who, together with his team at New World Stoke, will continue to serve the community from the existing store until the new store opens. Once the new bigger store is open, the old New World will be demolished.

Nelson Mayor Nick Smith says an upgraded supermarket will be a great benefit to Stoke residents and local businesses.

“The New World supermarket is vital to Strawbridge Square’s shopping centre. The team at Stoke New World provide a great service but the current building is outdated and too small for the growing population. This land swap will enable an investment of in excess of $20 million to build a larger, world-class supermarket and an upgrade of the Strawbridge Square carpark, entrances and stormwater system.

“The land is necessary as Foodstuffs South Island needs to be able to build on the existing Neale Avenue entrance to Strawbridge Square that bisects the land of the current supermarket and the old Video Ezy building. Council has agreed to release this approx 846m2 in exchange for 1172m2 at the Songer Street end. The Songer Street end of the existing supermarket will become parking and a new, much wider and safer entrance into Strawbridge Square.”

Stoke New World Owner Operate Brendon Rae, Nelson Mayor Nick Smith, Foodstuffs South Island Head of Property Strategy Rebecca Parish

Foodstuffs South Island Head of Property Strategy Rebecca Parish says the collaboration between Foodstuffs South Island, New World Stoke and Nelson City Council will bring a range of benefits to the growing community of Stoke.

“We’re delighted to be part of providing this creative solution that will ultimately enable Brendon and his team to provide locals with a bigger, better offering from their New World supermarket, so we’re really excited” she says.

Access to Strawbridge Square will change once the development has finished. The current two-way Neale Avenue entrance will be covered by the new store, and the one-way entry from Neale Avenue (closer to the library) will change to exit only, which will reduce the impact of traffic on the Songer Street entry/exit.

Construction will start once the exchange has taken place and resource consent has been granted. During the construction period there may be a temporary reduction of car park spaces.

Historically, the corner of Strawbridge Square currently occupied by New World, swapped with Council, experienced flooding. When Council takes over the corner site of the square and turns it into a car park, it will take the opportunity to upgrade stormwater infrastructure.

“We have set aside $600,000 to invest in an upgrade of pipes that will fix this longstanding problem,” says Mayor Nick.

“I want to acknowledge the Nelson Council property and infrastructure team and the Foodstuffs South Island team who have worked hard to secure this development agreement. I also want to thank the full Council team who have been so supportive of this deal and getting this investment in Strawbridge Square improvements. Council unanimously approved the development agreement in confidential business on 13 April and this has subsequently been agreed with Foodstuffs South Island.

“This major development for Stoke could not come at a better time with the approaching dark clouds of economic recession. It will provide a new supermarket and an upgrade of Strawbridge Square with new landscaping, improved stormwater and a safer access on to Songer Street. Stoke is a great place and this is going to make it even better.”

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