Supermarket operator Progressive Enterprises plans to apply for resource consent within the next four months to build a Countdown outlet in South Dunedin on land it purchased earlier in the year.
Progressive purchased the 1.1ha site, a former car yard bordering Andersons Bay Rd, early in the year and this week has been preparing to do ground testing.
Australian-owned Progressive has a 44% market share around the country and operates 150 Woolworths New Zealand, Countdown and Foodtown supermarkets, plus supplies independent brands.
Progressive's business manager for communications, Bill Moore, yesterday said the ground at the Andersons Bay site was being readied for core sampling to test for contaminants, and to collate other geotechnical data from the samples.
Progressive has been reluctant to supply details on the project since its intentions became known in April this year, and Mr Moore declined to comment on the supermarket's size, cost or timeframe.
Details would be in the resource consent application to the Dunedin City Council, he said.
South Dunedin competitor Pak'n Save is installing Dunedin's first supermarket petrol outlet, a $1.3 million project, but Mr Moore was not aware of any plans by Progressive to have petrol pumps at the Andersons Bay site.
Purchase of the site has been estimated at $3 million to $4 million and the total project could be worth $20 million.
A Dunedin property syndicate which owned the largest of the land parcels Progressive purchased also owns the site of Progressive's Woolworths supermarket on Andersons Bay Rd.
The syndicate was understood to have struck the deal with an out-of-town broker last year.
Work on the $11 million Bunnings 12,000sq m hardware outlet on a 2.3ha site in Strath-allan St is expected to resume next month when compacted fill has settled.
The business is expected to open early next year.
