Stafford St buildings could face demolition to entice developers

Wednesday, 21 June 2023

An aerial view showing the buildings purchased by TDHL in Timaru’s CBD.

Almost five years after it purchased a row of properties in Timaru’s CBD, the council’s holdings company is reassessing their future, which could include demolition.

Timaru District Holdings Ltd (TDHL), the financial arm of the Timaru District Council, bought the properties from 101-123 Stafford St, opposite the Theatre Royal and a planned heritage hub, in September 2018 for $1.7million.

TDHL chairperson Mark Rogers said they were now reassessing the future of the buildings, during a council meeting on Tuesday.

Rogers said one of the buildings was built of bluestone and had a heritage status, while others were deteriorating.

“When someone comes in to develop there is demo and development costs. We are assessing those buildings at the moment and what’s best for down there.

A computer sketch from March 21, 2023, of how Timaru's Theatre Royal and Heritage Hub development on Stafford St may look.

“Demo may be the option, and we are working through those options at the moment.”

He said demolition would enable them to offer larger footprints and easier sites to potential developers, which would be more conducive to that end of town.

“That’s what we are focussed on at the moment.”

Some of the buildings on Stafford St which could face demolition as TDHL reconsiders their future.

When it purchased the properties, TDHL said it intended to 'enable the sites to be combined and on sold to a developer as a single 3700 square metre site'.

In June 2021, TDHL called for expressions of interest from developers interested in purchasing the properties, but two years on they are yet to sell them.

Asked to update the community on the properties during Tuesday’s meeting, TDHL general manager Frazer Munro said it had not been “actively pursuing opportunities since the new year”.

The buildings on Stafford St which are yet to attract a buyer.

Councillor Stu Piddington requested the update, and also asked whether the company had received an offer to recover the purchase price, and why such an offer would be declined.

“I’m just interested in why you would do that?

“It would be a chance to escape out of something that obviously no one else is keen to do anything with,” Piddington said.

Munro said TDHL did quite a bit of work with council around the desired outcomes for the area the buildings occupy.

An artist’s impression of the hotel which was proposed for a large chunk of the Stafford St properties owned by the holdings company. The hotel has since been deemed not viable and the sites sold back to TDHL.

“We recognise TDHL’s holdings, in conjunction with TDC’s holdings, creates quite an opportunity to shift the dial for CBD redevelopment.”

He said a precinct plan for the area identified key features and outcomes that the council wanted to see from any development undertaken.

Proposals for the sites were assessed against that plan.

“We had some formal written proposals and a couple of informal proposals.”

One of the former, a proposal by Thompson Engineering and Construction to build a hotel on the site, was accepted in July 2022.

At the time, TDHL refused to confirm the $360,000 agreed sale price to The Timaru Herald.

The holdings company eventually confirmed the price, with Munro admitting they could have “done better” after questioning from Piddington during a council meeting the following month.

In January 2023, TDHL confirmed it had bought the properties back off Thompson Engineering and Construction, with the company behind the hotel saying it was no longer viable.

Rogers said the other proposals were set aside, but none met the required criteria as well as meeting the purchase cost of the buildings.