However, he may also have a bureaucratic hurdle to overcome, as the Dunedin City Council's harbourside plan change may stand in the way of his plans to rebuild on the site.
Mr Mason, who owns the industrial site near the harbour basin, has been using a mechanical excavator since last week to clear the site, after a fire gutted the building early on May 2.
The fire was one of two suspicious blazes in the city that morning, and Japanese Auto Wreckers Ltd has since relocated from Mr Mason's building to another Dunedin site.
Mr Mason said he was in talks with the council about rebuilding on his property, once cleared, and had plans for a new 13,000sq m industrial building.
He believed the development should be allowed under "existing use" rights, and, if so, expected the new building would be completed by early next year.
He already had one interested tenant, but conceded it was "hard to say" if the project would proceed because of uncertainty relating to the city's harbourside area.
"I don't know what's going to happen in the future down here," he said.
Council senior planner Campbell Thomson confirmed talks had begun, but said he was "yet to be convinced" existing use rights applied.
No formal plans had been received, but he believed the council's harbourside plan change would also "have a bearing" on any new industrial development in the area. He declined to comment further.
Council planning policy manager Paul Freeland said the city's harbourside area had overlapping sets of rules - the council's district plan and harbourside plan change - which both applied, but more weighting was given to the new harbourside rules as time went on.
The plan change was adopted in mid 2008, and switched zoning from industrial/port to harbourside to allow the development of cafes, restaurants and apartments.
Mr Freeland said the new harbourside rules "probably" had more weight, meaning it was more likely Mr Mason would have to apply for a new resource consent, and also more likely the application could face hurdles.
"It [harbourside] is a change in emphasis that may contain some issues," he said.
During a submission to the council's draft annual plan hearings in May, Otago Chamber of Commerce chief executive John Christie and president Mark Willis called for a halt to the harbourside plan change and for further consultation.
About 35 representatives of the 100 harbourside businesses watched the presentation, which came after the chamber and five businesses launched an Environment Court challenge to the plan change.
The council has since undertaken to hold further talks with concerned businesses.
Mr Mason said issues relating to the site were still being discussed with council staff, and it was "early days".
"I'm going to stick with the existing use rights [argument]."
He had 20-25 tonnes of blackened scrap metal and timber, perhaps 120 truckloads, to remove, he said. Clearing the site was "slow, filthy, dirty work".
Selling the scrap would only help minimise the "substantial [financial] hit" he said he had had as a result of the fire. He would not say how much the fire had cost him, but that he was insured.
About 95% of the scrap metal was to be taken by Sims Pacific Metals in the next two months "at a very reduced rate", and buyers had been found for some large timber beams still in one piece on site, Mr Mason said.
