The site of a proposed retail centre on land formerly occupied by the Firestone tyre factory in Papanui, Christchurch.

A new retail centre is planned for land previously occupied by the Firestone tyre factory in Christchurch.

The Smith family, which owns several Mitre 10 hardware stores, has applied to the Christchurch City Council for a resource consent to build a "large format retail centre" on a 3.3 hectare block on Langdons Rd in Papanui.

Papanui Properties director Andrew Smith said the company did not have any immediate plans to build a Mitre 10 on the site.

Consent documents showed the block comprised of three buildings, split into nine separate premises, designed for big retailers and food and beverage outlets. The buildings would have a floor area of 11,500 square metres.

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Smith said the company bought the property about three years ago as an opportunity to build a Mitre 10, but it was now building one nearby on Harewood Rd. He did not rule out the possibility of a Mitre 10 store being part of the Langdons Rd development.

"We bought it with no distinct plan in place. It just gave us options really."

He was waiting for the consent to be granted before talking to possible tenants and deciding when it could be built.

The entire 11ha Firestone factory site was split into three allotments, all purchased by different owners, after the manufacturing plant closed in 2009 with the loss of 275 jobs.

The central part contained office space being used by the Social Development Ministry and the remaining section was owned by property development company Luneys, which had partially developed the site into office space.