Buy a piece of Ashburton’s history

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

By local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:

Ashburton's former council civic building will go on the market later this year.

With the construction of Te Whare Whakatere, the Ashburton District Council’s new library and civic centre, the plan was always to sell off the old library and civic buildings to help pay for the new building.

Initially budgeted at $56.7 million, before its completion the council had signalled an overrun in the region of 10%.

Chief executive Hamish Riach said finalising the costs of completing Te Whare Whakatere “remains a work in progress”.

Councillors have meanwhile approved the tender process to sell several relocatable buildings and a deadline sale process for the former civic administration building and surrounding land, Riach said.

“The money raised will help offset the cost of building Te Whare Whakatere.”

The old public library site was sold to CBR Properties Limited for $1.1 million in May, and the company's directors, Barry and Chris Redmond, have yet to reveal their plans for the site.

The council is now looking for a real estate agent to sell the former three-storey civic building and land, which consists of four separate titles, with a total land area of 5059m2.

Real estate agencies interested in selling the old council building and land need to apply by August 7 and a successful agency will then be selected following the tender evaluation process.

The council wants the property on the market by mid-September with a deadline sale end date in November.

Tenders are also being called for from people interested in buying its surplus relocatable buildings, including the former temporary council chamber.

The temporary chamber, the staff tearoom, and 10 garages associated with the old civic building at 5 Baring Square West are up for tender, along with three relocatable classrooms at the old polytech site on Cameron St.

The tender deadline for the relocatable buildings closes on August 23.

“The successful tenderers will ultimately be decided by councillors, so that means a community group hoping to use one of the buildings for a good cause will have as much opportunity as a business wanting it for a commercial purpose,” Riach said.

The council hope to have all the buildings and land sold by the end of the year.