Māngere Town Centre’s landlords called on to upgrade buildings, following new roof plans

The Māngere Town Centre's 15-year-old canopy is getting replaced after a long fight for funding says a local body politician.

Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board chairperson Tauanu'u Nanai Nick Bakulich says the roof, which covers the four main entrances to the mall, will cost a “significant” six-figure amount.

"Our local board like every other local board in Auckland has to fight for that bucket of money distributed from town," Tauanu'u says.

He also says it has been a challenge encouraging the town centres' multiple landlords, who make up the Māngere Town Centre Committee, to invest their own funds into upgrading the centre.

"For us as the local elected [members], in terms of advocacy, we’re pleading with them 'please, there's an issue here’.

"That committee is made up of community people but also the landlords.

"We would love for that asset to be under our ownership but the sheer fact is we can't touch other people's properties."

He says another "big game changer" would have been the recently scrapped Auckland light rail project, which could have attracted investment to the heart of Māngere.

"Unfortunately, it's been taken off the books by the current government and that's a real shame."

But Tauanu'u still hopes the centre’s landlords may "dig into their conscious and think about how we can make this a town centre that the community can be proud of".

"We would plead to the landlords and business owners there to look at revamping our town centre."

And although funding has been secured for the roof, Tauanu'u says the operations team have to sort delivery and therefore cannot provide a date on when the canopy replacement will begin.

View the full interview with Tauanu'u via 531pi's Facebook page below: