Timaru District Council's holding company buys large chunk of southern Stafford St

Friday, 21 September 2018

Buildings on Stafford St, Timaru, purchased by Timaru District Holdings.

The Timaru District Council's holdings company has purchased five buildings on Stafford St at a combined price of $1.7million.

The purchase of the properties was confirmed on Friday afternoon, and follows the council's purchase of the former Excelsior Hotel building for $385,000 in June. The council already owned the neighbouring Theatre Royal and two other buildings in the area.

Timaru District Holdings has purchased a series of buildings for $1.7 million. Timaru CBD chairman Nigel Gilkison says the purchase of the buildings could be a great opportunity for the CBD.

The purchase of properties 101-123 Stafford St will 'enable the sites to be combined and on sold to a developer as a single 3700 square metre site', a statement released by Timaru District Holdings says.

Timaru CBD group chairman Nigel Gilkison said the purchases present an exciting opportunity to reinvigorate the south end of Stafford Street and provide a stronger retail offering for the CBD - if done right.

Buildings between 101 and 123 Stafford St have been purchased by Timaru District Holdings Limited for a combined price of $1.7 million.

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'It is important that the proposals, which are developed here, are of high quality and will positively contribute to the CBD and not be to its detriment,' Gilkison said.

'Things like maintaining an active and attractive, pedestrian friendly, street frontage along Stafford Street is absolutely vital. The danger with selling this site off as one big lot, is that we could end up with another long, blank street facade, which will kill all pedestrian activity in this part of town.'

Stuff has been asking the council for more than two weeks about the purchase of buildings on the street.

The council has been working on a proposed Heritage Hub in the vicinity of the buildings purchased and will soon begin a $12million upgrade of the Theatre Royal.

However, Timaru District mayor Damon Odey, who is chairman of Timaru District Holdings Ltd (TDHL), said this purchase was a separate commercial endeavour.

'There's the Timaru District Council on one side of the road, and Timaru District Holdings on the other,' Odey said.

'The Heritage Hub is something we're still working on as a council, this is a separate piece of work.'

Odey said the purchase was intended to help stimulate interest in the area.

'There will be ongoing work, there are several moving parts here,' he said.

'I think what we've done is something progressive. The holdings company has decided to make some stuff happen. The community has long asked if there is anything we can do to help update this part of south Stafford Street,” Odey said.

Last year, TDHL purchased the town's former A&P showgrounds, after fears big box development would draw people away from the Timaru Central Business District.

'So this purchase [of property on Stafford St] is the other side of the coin,' Odey said.

He said there had been several months of negotiation, but he was impressed by the collaboration of the former building owners.

Gilkison said it would also be sensible to consider plans for the upgraded Theatre Royal and new Heritage Centre.

'There really needs to be some sort of agreed vision for what this south end of town will become and we all should have a say in this. We really need a plan in place to ensure that what is developed here is the right outcome for all of us. It's not good enough just to cross your fingers and hope for the best,' he said.

Current tenancies will continue while development opportunities are explored by TDHL.