New owners founds for old Ashburton library
By local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
Local property developers have purchased the old Ashburton Public Library.
CBR Properties Limited completed the purchase of the old library site for $1.1 million from the Ashburton District Council on Friday.
The company's directors, Barry and Chris Redmond, could not be reached for comment on Monday.
The building, on the corner of State Highway 1 and Havelock St, was home to the Ashburton library for nearly 60 years and it’s unclear what plans the Redmonds have for the building.
The council had deemed it was not economical to strengthen and upgrade the building, opting instead to incorporate a new modern library with a new administration building.
Te Whare Whakatere, the new library and civic centre, opened earlier this year.
The decision was made to put the old library site up for sale at the end of last year.
Three offers were made but the property was snapped up by the Redmonds.
The developers own the property next door - 241 West St Ashburton – which they had planned to redevelop in 2017 but were halted by the Peter Cates grain store being a heritage-listed building.
The Redmonds also own the arcade in central Ashburton as well as several other sites.
Last year they completed the redevelopment of what had been a two-storey building on East St that was once home to Ashburton's oldest café, Reflections.
It was demolished to make way for a modern single-storey building.
New Zealand Bed Company has moved to one side of the new building.
The council planned to use the funds from the sale of the old library to be put towards paying off the construction of Te Whare Whakatere, the new library and civic centre, offsetting the impact on ratepayers.
Initially budgeted at $56.7m, before its completion the council signaled an overrun in the region of 10%. The final tally is yet to be confirmed.
The project also received $20m from the government’s shovel-ready infrastructure fund.
The council also planned to sell the old administration building site, but council chief executive Hamish Riach said a decision on that had not yet been made.
Worst Xmas ever?
There's a a lot of planning that goes into Christmas day and sometimes things just don't go to plan. But it can be a good thing - a family mishap or hilarious memory that you can laugh about in Christmases to come.
Whether you burnt the dinner or were stranded at an airport...
Share your Christmas mishaps below!
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️
Poll: Would you rather: Christmas in summer forever or winter forever?
Just a bit of a fun poll to get you thinking.
If you had to live out your Christmas days, would you prefer it was a summer Christmas or a winter Christmas?
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61.8% Summer
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36.5% Winter
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1.6% Other - I'll share below
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