Exciting changes ahead for two council premises
Published on 28 March 2025
Whanganui District Council is pleased to announce exciting developments in the pipeline at two council-owned buildings, signalling the start of a new chapter for these premises.
The council purchased the 2030sq m building at 33 Victoria Avenue (through to 36 St Hill Street) from Wanganui Furnishers in May 2024 and the business has leased the building from the council since then.
The council’s chief strategy officer, Sarah O’Hagan, says Wanganui Furnishers has been a great tenant and she’d like to wish them well as they close their doors on Friday, 28 March, with the lease expiring at the end of May.
“While working to secure a new tenant for the site for 33 Victoria Avenue we’ve kept in mind that it needs to be a business that our community will enjoy that suits the area.”
“We are pleased to announce that we have one very interested potential tenant for the front half of the site (facing the avenue) and another one emerging for the back of the site (facing St Hill Street). Talks with the first potential tenant are further along, and while we have several things to work through before it can launch, we look forward to making an announcement about this business – which has a well-known presence nationally – in the near future.
“The other opportunity is going to take a little more time to work through.”
She said people may also have heard about the 10-year lease of the café at the picturesque Rotokawau Virginia Lake expiring at the end of March.
“There has been some misleading information doing the rounds about the Funky Duck Café at the site being forced to close – in fact, the current leaseholder let us know he was interested in retiring and selling the business and with the lease expiring at the end of March, we were obliged to engage with the community on the future of the site since it’s a key council location that’s important to locals and visitors.”
She says useful information came out of the 2024 engagement with the community saying they would like to see opening hours extended into the evening for a café at the park.
“We need to be transparent so we invited expressions of interest in taking on the new lease – this was open to the current business onsite which chose not to submit a proposal.
“We are now at a stage where we can announce we have engaged a new operator who will take the following month to establish the café and open to the community in May.”
“We would like to thank Funky Duck Café owner Dave Hill who has operated a café that has been well-appreciated by park visitors and we look forward to announcing the new café name and operator over the next few weeks.”