Second major city development stalls

Tauranga's economic recovery has been dealt another blow with two business consortiums unable to commit to the full costs to develop a boat servicing yard at Sulphur Point.

The city council called for expressions of interest from the private sector to develop the yard on 5ha it owns between the Harbour Bridge and Sanfords.

However, in the same way as tough times killed off the plan to build an internationally-branded $38 million hotel on council land in downtown Tauranga, the global downturn has made potential investors nervous about sinking too much money into the marine development.

Mayor Stuart Crosby said the council received two "pretty good" proposals from consortiums but they were unable to make the project stack up financially.

One of the sticking points was that the investors were not prepared to pay for the underground geotechnical investigation to discover if there were any obstacles to putting heavy-duty infrastructure on reclaimed land.

It meant the cash-strapped council would now return to the point it reached in February, when it opposed making a $3 million contribution to the estimated $7 million travel lift and maintenance yard.

The latest initiative stemmed from a council decision in May to test the market to see if anyone was prepared to fund the full cost of development. Expressions of interest were received from a Tauranga business consortium and a consortium comprising a local investor and an out-of-town investor.

Read more in today's Bay of Plenty Times