Former Ashburton council building sold
By local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
The former Ashburton District Council building has been sold, but the details won’t be revealed until the settlement date in the New Year.
The sold sticker went up last week after the councillors decided to accept one of two offers they had received for the site during the public-excluded part of the council meeting.
That means how much it sold for and who the new owners are remain sealed.
Chief executive Hamish Riach said details of the sale were confidential at this time, though more information would be released after settlement.
“There were two offers, which were discussed by councillors in-committee, and they accepted one for the entire site.
“We expect the sale to be finalised in early 2025.”
The property comprises 5059sqm in four titles and the sale was handled by Property Brokers agent Hamish Niles.
The three-storey council building was built in 1974 with a basement and the ability to add a fourth storey but that was scuttled by the changes to the building standards following the Canterbury earthquakes.
Issues with the building were first signalled in 2004, and in 2015 it was decided to combine a replacement with a new library.
The sale of the old council building will offset the $62.1m build cost of the new library and civic centre, Te Whare Whakatere, which opened in January.
The project received $20m from the Government’s shovel-ready infrastructure programme.
Earlier this year the council sold the former public library building for $1.1m to CBR Properties Limited, which plans to renovate the building into a boutique hotel.
It also sold two relocatable buildings for $160,000.
The three older prefab classrooms at the former Polytech site on Cameron Street were being sold for $1 each, but the tenderers need to pay for the removal by March 14.
The tenders closed on November 13 and the council is working through the sale process.
*LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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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61.7% Summer
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36.6% Winter
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1.7% Other - I'll share below
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