Floating restaurant back on horizon | Bay of Plenty News | Local News in Bay of Plenty

Owner Mark Scapens is waiting for a coastal consent before bringing his glass pontoon on the downtown Tauranga waterfront back to life.

Mr Scapens has leasing interest to turn the 240sq m pontoon into a floating bar and restaurant for 80 diners - but first he has to give new tenants security of a long-term lease.

The present lease to operate on the waterfront opposite Spring St expires in less than three years.

Mr Scapens said he has been offered a new 20-year lease and is expecting a coastal consent from Bay of Plenty Regional Council to come through next month.

"Then we will be able to commit to a tenant," he said. "The pontoon's logical use is hospitality - it can take advantage of the day-time sun and water views.

"What it's got that The Strand hasn't is evening sun, and we can do lunch, dinner, a few drinks and be closed by 10pm," Mr Scapens said.

The pontoon was left standing alone when the old ferry boat MV Kestrel detached from it and was towed back to Auckland in December 2010. Together they formed a larger floating restaurant called Kestrel at the Landing.

Auckland-based Kestrel Preservation Society bought the 106-year-old wooden vessel from Mr Scapens who brought it down to Tauranga in 2002.

Mr Scapens has dropped his plans for developing a $5.6 million Coronation Pier on the waterfront after failing to reach commercial terms with Tauranga City Council, and the council then decided not to proceed.

Mr Scapens was negotiating a 35-year lease for the new pier - the old one was demolished more than four years ago - but he couldn't get an assurance it would be renewed after that period.

He planned to convert a former Navy maintenance barge into a floating two-storey commercial development, and the pier would have 19 berths.

With work under way on stage one of the waterfront development, Priority One's city centre manager Duarne Lankshear is confident there will be some commercial activity there.

"The waterfront development will create momentum for the downtown, and people will start using it," he said.

Mr Lankshear expected a small cluster of tourism and hospitality activity to be operating next to the Edgewater Fan and the glass pontoon by next summer.

Food and tourism operators would be set up in customised containers, and water taxis, fishing, diving and other boats would be able to tie up.

"The waterfront needs to reconnect with the water and provide space for water activities and for people to get out on the harbour," Mr Lankshear said.