Work on a $2.3 million roundabout in Paeroa is likely to begin before Christmas, as the former racecourse development project picks up speed.
Earthworks have been underway within the site known as Paeroa Hills since 2023, flattening out the racecourse ground and preparing it for development. This work will continue until around the end of 2027.
However, site owner Wayne Wright from the Wright Family Foundation said the work was about to become much more visible to the public, with the imminent construction of a roundabout on the corner of Thames Rd/State Highway 26 and Norwood Rd.
“We’ve been trying to start that roundabout for three months and they just keep procrastinating and procrastinating between the NZTA (New Zealand Transport Authority) and the council… But we’re fairly close and we expect to start construction of that before Christmas and it’ll take two and a half months,” Wayne told The Profile.
“By June of next year, I would expect the roundabout to be in, the roading started: the first half of the development… should be roads and sections being shaped up.”
Hauraki District Council said the roundabout was currently in the detailed design phase, which included planning underground infrastructure to support the development.
“Council is working through approvals and design co-ordination for the next stages of the Paeroa racecourse development,” it said.
NZTA did not comment on the construction timeline, and referred The Profile back to the developer. The roundabout will sit at the main entrance into the new subdivision, leading to a road which will pass between a commercial hub and a green space with facilities like a skate park and playground.
Wayne said the retail space would feature convenience and hospitality services like a hairdresser, cafe, takeaways, or nail salon. Further in were spaces set aside for a motel, and a community living hub for people with intellectual disabilities.
Elsewhere on the property, work is also about to start on the chapel dedicated to Wayne’s late wife, Chloe. The chapel will sit under the trees near the remaining grandstand, overlooking the development site.
“It’s starting construction in December, and it’ll take probably about nine months,” Wayne said.
“It’s called the Chloe Wright Memorial Chapel. It was really her that pushed me into this… I thought, well, that’d be a nice place to make a statement.”
The chapel, and the tree-filled section of land between the original racecourse entrance and the grandstand, will remain with the Wright Family Foundation and used as a community asset.
