Approval for the New World supermarket, located at the intersection of Midland and Otaki Streets, was granted in April 2022. However, Foodstuffs said that market conditions have postponed the planned construction.
Foodstuffs South Island received resource consent from the Dunedin City Council for a new development comprising a 3364 sqm supermarket building, a café, 140 car parks, and a distribution centre on a 0.8-hectare site.
According to a Foodstuffs South Island spokesperson, the site is still being used as overflow storage to support its Dunedin Distribution Centre and Trents Wholesale Dunedin operations.
“At this stage, there are no plans to develop the site in the medium term,” the spokesperson said.
Foodstuffs South Island held a ground lease on the Midland Street site, which had been originally constructed specifically for warehousing purposes and has served as overflow storage for the last two decades.
This usage continued even after the council granted resource consent for a possible store development.
“A combination of market conditions and other factors have contributed to delays in progressing development on the site.”
“As part of our regular property review process, we assess a wide range of considerations when planning new developments, including local population growth, customer and community accessibility, shopping patterns, roading changes, long-term resilience and broader development activity in the area,” the spokesperson explained.
Foodstuffs South Island continuously invests in key stores such as Pak’nSave Dunedin and New World Centre City, both of which continue to enjoy strong popularity. It also has recently upgraded the neighbouring Trents building to improve the experience for its customers.
Foodstuffs South Island remained dedicated to consistently enhancing the customer experience across all its stores, the spokesperson said.