Breakthrough for Christchurch's lower High St as unrepaired 'dirty 30' building goes to auction

Thursday, 23 May 2019

The former Ace Video building on the corner of High St and St Asaph st will be auctioned.

The upcoming auction of one of Christchurch's 'dirty 30' buildings could be a breakthrough for the heritage precinct of lower High St.

Formerly the Ace Video premises, 129 High St on the St Asaph St corner has remained derelict while earthquake repairs started on the block's other buildings.

An overhead photo of lower High St from 2013, with the Ace Video building in the bottom right corner.

After a long insurance battle, owners Natu and Nalini Rama finally settled their claim on the building late last year.

The couple have owned the property since and 1989 and ran their video business from it until the 2011 quakes.

Owner Natu Rama cleaning up outside his Ace Video store after a storm in 2002.

Some of lower High St's Duncan's buildings in 2016 before repair.

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They have now decided against doing repairs and will auction the property next week.

Natu Rama said they had originally been committed to restoring their building, which is inside the innovation precinct.

But after the stress of their long insurance battle, and enduring vandalism and theft on the site, they now wanted to retire instead, he said.

'It's still got a lot of strength and value in it – it just needs someone to spend time and care,' Rama said.

'I am hoping the incoming owner will share a similar vision to what we had.'

The building was on the city council's 'dirty 30' list of damaged buildings seen as a barrier to the regeneration of the central city.

It is one of only eight buildings on the list where owners have not made progress in the two years since the list was released.

The character building has two storeys plus a veranda and roof terrace and sits on a 181-square-metre triangular site next to the Duncan's buildings.

Realtor Courtney Doig, of Colliers, who is marketing the building, described it as 'the last piece remaining on this special stretch of High St'.

The road along lower High St has never fully reopened since the earthquakes due to the state of its damaged heritage buildings. The city council has recently announced a proposal to extend the tram to the High-Tuam st corner.

The newly formed Little High Lane runs behind all the buildings on that side of the street, linking St Asaph St to Evolution Square by the Little High complex.

While the individual Duncan's buildings at both ends of the row were demolished, others have been renovated including the Monday Room and Arts Printers buildings, and work is in progress now on the $10 million revamp turning the eight middle buildings into the High St Lanes precinct.

Just one of the Duncan's buildings at 141 High St remains unrepaired, but it was sold last year to new owners with restoration plans.