Council organisation’s move to south end of Timaru CBD a show of confidence

Wednesday, 25 June 2025

Venture Timaru will move to new Stafford St offices later in the year.

The boss of Timaru’s economic development and promotion agency says he hopes moving the organisation’s office to the south end of the town will help efforts to reinvigorate the area.

Venture Timaru (VT) chief executive Nigel Davenport said the organisation would move into the ground floor space of the former Union Bank of Australia Building, at 117 Stafford St, at the end of October.

The building is owned by council-controlled trading organisation Timaru District Holdings Limited (TDHL), and also houses that entity.

“VT and TDHL work very closely together on economic and business development opportunities for the district, so co-location makes sense on many fronts,” Davenport said.

Venture Timaru chief executive Nigel Davenport says his organisation works closely with Timaru District Holdings Ltd so co-location of the two makes sense.

Speaking at Tuesday’s Timaru District Council meeting, Davenport expanded on that and said the two would also be able to work together to fill TDHL’s new business park at Washdyke.

Davenport said the move from its current offices on Sefton St to the south end of Stafford St would also lend the organisation’s weight to efforts to breathe new life into that end of town.

“Our move is also a very tangible way for us to evidence our confidence in South Stafford St and in our own small way play a part in its re-emerging vibrancy.”

On Monday, TDHL general manager Frazer Munro said work was under way to renovate the office space ahead of VT’s move.

Venture Timaru will move into the ground floor of 117 Stafford St once renovations have been completed over the next couple of months.

“The bathroom will be relocated, and some upgrades like painting, flooring, electrical upgrades and a kitchenette.”

That work would coincide with the façade restoration of the heritage building and the last of the earthquake strengthening required, which had been programmed to be done last year, he said.

South Stafford St was expected to be a hive of activity in the coming months as the redevelopment of the Theatre Royal and the construction of a new museum got under way.

Leigh Marsden in her new wellness studio in the former Butterfields building in March.

The council’s procurement lead, Nigel Howarth, issued a notice calling for registrations of interest for a main contractor for the construction of the project, which included an integrated public laneway, on Tuesday.

Contractors could express an interest in the Theatre Royal work, the museum, or both, he said.

“We are seeking a contractor, or contractors, with experience in delivering complex heritage, civic, and theatre construction projects, and are able to work within a constrained urban and operational site with significant heritage and stakeholder considerations,” Howarth said.

Registrations would close on July 24.

As well as the council’s major infrastructure plans for the area, there had been other recent developments.

In recent months, those have included the sale of four properties to Rooney Holdings Ltd, and in March a new wellness studio opened in the renovated former Butterfields building.

The properties purchased by Rooney Holdings include the former Majestic Theatre, centre right, as well as two properties to the right of it, and another to the north of 117 Stafford St, centre of image, that once housed the National Mortgage & Agency House at 123 Stafford St.

The sale of the properties to Rooney Holdings came seven years after TDHL purchased them as part of plans to help revitalise the area.

Since then other plans for properties had included a proposal to build a hotel on them and TDHL’s own plan to demolish them and create a temporary greenspace.

A demolition consent was granted by the council in October 2023, and in April the council confirmed the consent had been transferred to the new owner.

The consent, for 101-107 Stafford St, ordered that the council be notified with at least five days’ notice of any earthworks at the site. The consent would lapse after five years.

Any plans for the properties were yet to be shared and Rooney Holdings had been approached for comment.

However the council’s chief executive Nigel Trainor did confirm an offer had been made to redevelop the Majestic Theatre building into a community theatre.

“It’s in its very infancy — the offer was to potentially refit the Majestic as our theatre, instead of the Theatre Royal and potentially that person may do that themselves and donate to the community,’’ Trainor said, at a meeting on April 29.

In announcing the sale of the properties, Munro said TDHL was pleased they had been “acquired by a party with a proven track record and obvious capability to redevelop them”.