Waiapu Precinct

Construction will be staged over several years from mid-2025 until 2027. This approach aims to reduce the impact on local parking and access throughout the works. Phase 1 of their works is scheduled to begin in the second week of June, starting with initial site setup, followed by major works commencing soon afterwards. To minimise disturbance, any noisy works or vibration-generating activities will be limited to daytime working hours. This first phase will continue through to early 2026 and we will provide regular updates as work progresses through each phase. The last stage will be around the potential development sites for new homes within the precinct and the future Woolworths supermarket.

There will still be approximately 50-90 car parks available in the precinct throughout construction. The places where this parking is available will move as the different stages of work progress and additional parking areas may open as work is completed. There is also a wide variety of parking times and locations in the wider Onehunga town centre.

In late 2024, Woolworths entered into a conditional agreement with Eke Panuku to bring a state-of-the-art supermarket to the Onehunga town centre, as part of the regeneration of the Waiapu Precinct.

The store, due for construction around 2027, will be much larger than the current store and will offer the full Woolworths product range. The new store will include an undercover car park, Direct to Boot facility for picking up online orders, and a small number of retail tenancies to further add to the community amenities. They anticipate that the new store will bring at least 30 new jobs to the area. 

The Trident Tavern, which on the site of the new supermarket, was deconstructed in late 2024 as plans for the new supermarket progress. The Tavern is home to some special rugby league jerseys and Woolworths are proud to be preserving the collection and will be looking to incorporate them into the new store.

Currently there are 350 parking spaces within the Waiapu Precinct area. Approximately 150-200 of these spaces are used predominantly by supermarket customers, 40-80 spaces as short stay (60 – 120 mins) spaces by those shopping or visiting the town centre, and 115 spaces as free all-day parking by workers in the area/as an informal park and ride area to commute elsewhere.

150-200 of the spaces used by supermarket users will be part of its new site development, which will also have parking outside for parents with children, mobility parking and on-line pick-up. 40-80 short-stay car parks will remain within the precinct for town centre visitors and shoppers. The free all-day parking will no longer be accommodated within the precinct, but there are approximately 1,000 unrestricted car parks elsewhere in Onehunga.

We are working closely with the Dress Smart owners, Lendlease Funds Management Limited, to integrate their plans to upgrade the shopping mall with our plans for Paynes Lane. Once timings for their works become clear then we will be able to proceed with our work in upgrading Paynes Lane.

At the end of 2024, the Auckland Council Governing Body agreed to progress a series of 
measure to reform the structure of its council-controlled organisations – Eke Panuku being one of them. Since then, a process has been underway to enact the Governing Body’s decision to integrate the activities of Eke Panuku into Auckland Council no later than 30 June. This means that from July at the latest Eke Panuku will no longer exist as a CCO. 

The mayor, councillors and Auckland Council Chief Executive have made it clear that 
Aucklanders can expect the continuation of high-quality, holistic urban regeneration across the region. The Governing Body was clear in its decision that it did not wish to see any changes to our programme, so Aucklanders can still expect to see high quality, holistic regeneration taking place in town centres across the region. We are also working to ensure that the flow of information to locals and people interested in our work will continue.

The Waiapu Precinct will benefit existing local Onehunga businesses by drawing more people to the area and providing significantly improved connections through to Onehunga Mall and beyond via new and upgraded laneways. Onehunga’s economy will get a boost from having more people living within walking distance and with convenient public transport connections, alongside being a draw for commuter traffic. The new supermarket development will also provide benefits to the local economy, with Woolworths anticipating that the new store will bring at least 30 new jobs to the area.

Auckland Council owns most of the land in the Waiapu Precinct block area, which is bounded by Arthur Street, Selwyn Street, Church Street and Onehunga Mall. There are some privately owned properties on the road frontages as well. The masterplan, which guides the development of the precinct beyond the initial work, with connections to Arthur Street and with Onehunga Mall, requires some property acquisitions. The owners of these properties are aware of the desired acquisition and are part of this process.

The Enchanted Forest is a commercial business operating on a site leased from Auckland Council. The tenant was kept aware that the site was planned for future development and has been informed of the proposed timings of the future redevelopment of the site. The tenant decided to end their tenancy at the end of April 2025, with the site due for deconstruction in the months following.

For Auckland to meet its housing and transport challenges, more housing is needed closer to the things people want and need access to, like shops, cafés, schools, and transport connections. Onehunga has good access to existing services and public transport networks and can grow ‘upwards’ to make the best use of this existing infrastructure and great town centre location. More people living in the town centre will also create more activity for local businesses that isn’t dependent on car parking availability.

The development blocks for future residential homes and commercial property opportunities will be taken to market in stages from 2026 with a view to see development occur following the completion of the Waiapu Precinct public works in 2027. 

Discussions with the Church had been ongoing since 2023 around extending the footpath alongside their boundary into the new Waiapu development. It is not a requirement of the redevelopment but would’ve improved access to the church and their laneway through to Onehunga Mall. 

There have also been ongoing conversations with the Church around their encroachment onto public land. The church is encroaching on the legal roadway that is Gerrard Beeson Place, which is land that will be developed as part of the realignment of that road. This land has been ground surveyed to ensure it contains no unknown features, with the area of encroachment only containing lawn area and a fence, which will be reinstalled on the correct church boundary line.