TDHL confirms sale of buildings in Timaru CBD

Tuesday, 1 April 2025

The row of properties on Timaru’s Stafford St sold to Rooney Holdings include the Majestic Theatre.

Almost seven years after they were purchased by the council’s holdings company as part of a plan to aid development at the south end of Timaru, a row of properties has been sold.

The four properties on Timaru’s Stafford St were listed for sale on the open market in December by deadline treaty, which closed on March 1.

On Tuesday, Timaru District Holdings Limited (TDHL) confirmed they had been sold to Rooney Holdings Limited for $737,000.

“We are pleased that the four properties have been acquired by a party with a proven track record and obvious capability to redevelop them,” TDHL general manager Frazer Munro said.

At the time of listing the properties, Munro said TDHL expected a “commercial price” for the properties, which it paid $1.28 million for in 2018.

Some of the buildings on Stafford St that have been purchased by Rooney Holdings Ltd.

“With the Theatre Royal across the street, now is the best time to maximise the opportunities that these properties provide for the CBD,” he said.

The properties sold, from 101 to 111 and 123 Stafford St, include the former National Mortgage & Agency House and the Majestic Theatre.

TDHL bought them, along with 117 to 119 Stafford St, for $1.7 million in 2018.

Munro said the company had retained the former Union Bank of Australia building at 117 to 119 Stafford St, which had been restored and now housed the TDHL offices.

He said the properties had been acquired at a time when TDHL had a very different set of priorities.

TDHL chairperson Mark Rogers, with TDHL general manager Frazer Munro at Tuesday’s Timaru District Council meeting. Rogers says they are “not particularly happy” the properties have sold for less than the company paid for them.

“Since that time, TDHL has decided to actively focus on its Washdyke and port industrial properties, and our associate investments of PrimePort and Alpine Energy.

“For the legacy investments of Showgrounds and south Stafford Street properties, this means a managed exit.”

Asked for further information during Tuesday afternoon’s Timaru District Council meeting, TDHL chairperson Mark Rogers told councillors there had been multiple offers for the properties.

“We received four offers and the board accepted one of those and it went unconditional yesterday.”

Rogers said the board make-up in 2018, when the properties were purchased, was quite different to now ‒ with the then mayor, two councillors, and two independent directors.

He said they were purchased with an intention which “didn’t come to fruition” and there was no clear exit strategy.

TDHL chief executive Frazer Munro has been overseeing the restoration of the bluestone building that originally housed the Union Bank of Australia.

“Subsequently, the Union Bank building was heritage-listed which changed the dynamic of the site from one large footprint to one medium-sized and two smaller.”

After TDHL renovated the Union Bank building they needed to assess where the other four properties sat in relation to TDHL’s strategy and then looked at its options.

“Those four properties don’t fit within our strategy … the board looked at the options around those four sites.

“We had maintaining them which would have an ongoing cost, we had demo’ing them which had a minimum $200,000 investment in regards to the actual knock-down and then there would be the ongoing maintenance, and the third option was sale of them, subject to an acceptable price.

“When we got the prices in, we weighed up the options … and we felt rather than sinking more money into that site, it would be better to put the $700,000 in the bank and move on from the legacy project.

“We’re not particularly happy that we paid more than we sold for. But, in terms of the decision now, it’s the right decision for now,” Rogers said.

Rooney Holdings director and shareholder Gary Rooney has been approached for comment.