Duke & Cooke Property News
Property News from the Nelson Tasman Region

Published on: 6th September 2008

ACCESS ENABLES GROWTH
NEW FENCE PROTECTS SOLDIERS’ GRAVES
DO WE BACK THE UPGRADE?
OPEN DAY AT MELROSE
SPRINGS TOURIST COMPLEX COULD BE STARTED BY SUMMER
UPGRADE IMPACT ON RATES GROWS
COUNCIL REVIEWS FIREPLACE SCRAP RULE
FIVE PROPERTIES MAKE CUT
TASMAN DISTRICT’S WATER ‘AT RISK’
PROPERTY WATCH

ACCESS ENABLES GROWTH

Cawthron gets road consent for site
The Cawthron Institute is set to start expanding its Glenhaven aquaculture site after gaining approval to build an inland access route to the facility. Cawthron had originally intended to build a road adjacent to the Boulder Bank but failed to gain resource consent after concerns were raised about possible environmental and landscape damage. The Cawthron lodged an appeal with the Environment Court but is set to abandon it after gaining consent for an alternative route. Commercial and Investment manager Daryl Wehner said the Cawthron had negotiated a land swap deal with a neighbour, but declined to give any details about the transaction. Mr Wehner said the design of the road and a date for construction were yet to be decided. Building the new access road would enable the Cawthron to commit to a major expansion of the Glenhaven site.

(The Nelson Mail, Tuesday 2 September 2008)
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NEW FENCE PROTECTS SOLDIERS’ GRAVES

Sheep can no longer wander into the Wakapuaka RSA cemetery, thanks to a new fence erected at the entrance. Nelson RSA executive committee member Brian Ramsay said a generous grant from the Ministry of Veterans’ Affairs had paid for the new gate and balustrade. The Nelson City Council had removed the old fence and contractors Homeplus Nelson had made and installed the new balustrade, made in the very fitting shade of army green.

(The Nelson Mail, Wednesday 3 September 2008)
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DO WE BACK THE UPGRADE?

DO WE BACK THE UPGRADE?
Council calls public consultation on Trafalgar Park
Plans for the Park
- What’s recommended?
A $7 million upgrade would include installing a sand-based field with better drainage, television-standard pitch lighting and electronic scoreboard; removing the cycling and athletics tracks; demolishing the old east stand and using temporary seating for major events; improving toilets and spectator entrances; remodelling the northern embankment to accommodate 7500 spectators and creating a new recreation park in the northwest corner with a bridge over the Maitai River.
- Why is it needed?
Despite recent spending of $1.7 million on new western grandstands, the park is not seen as capable of hosting major rugby events, in particular Rugby World Cup matches in 2011, which the council is keen on bidding for. It would also be a venue for other major outdoor sporting and cultural events, such as concerts.
- Who pays?
This is where it gets tricky. With the Tasman District Council reluctant to contribute and the local rugby union crying poor, Nelson City Council will almost certainly have to front up with the whole $7 million if it wants the chance of hosting world cup matches and hope the TDC pays its share (estimated $1.5 million) later. That would add about 1.6 percent a year to city rates, and comes at a time when the council is already committed to other big infrastructure projects.
- Why the hurry?
The deadline for Rugby World Cup match bids is October 31. Because of the significance of the park project and awareness that the issue is likely to be controversial in the current climate, the rest of this month has been set aside for public feedback, with submissions heard and decisions made at a special council meeting on October 8 and 9.

(The Nelson Mail, Thursday 4 September 2008)
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OPEN DAY AT MELROSE

A free open day will be held at Melrose House between noon and 2pm on Saturday. The Melrose Society is inviting people to explore the house. It is also seeking expressions of interest for commercial or community use of the house, with an aim of creating a multi-function venue.

(The Nelson Mail, Thursday 4 September 2008)
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SPRINGS TOURIST COMPLEX COULD BE STARTED BY SUMMER

Work on building a major new tourist complex near Golden Bay’s Te Waikoropupu Springs could start by summer. The development, by the Reilly Trust, will comprise a café-restaurant catering for up to 130 people, a freshwater aquarium, three motel units and a manager’s house. It will be built on rural one-zoned land on the south side of Pupu Valley Rd, 2km east of the springs and 1km from State Highway 60. Te Waikoropupu Springs is Golden Bay’s most visited tourist site, attracting up to 70,000 visitors a year. A Tasman District Council hearing last November recommended that resource consent for the complex be granted, but following objections by neighbours, an Environment Court mediator was appointed.

(The Nelson Mail, Thursday 4 September 2008)
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UPGRADE IMPACT ON RATES GROWS

No figures on return
The proposed $7 million upgrade of Trafalgar Park will now cost Nelson city ratepayers an estimated 2.6 percent more a year, with no clear idea of how much money the project will return to the region. The Nelson City Council yesterday put the proposal out for public consultation, keeping it on track to bid to host a Rugby World Cup game or team in 2011. The proposal said “events potentially bring economic benefits” but did not expand on how much those benefits could be. It said the cost of the project could increase rates by approximately 2.03 percent or 2.64 percent, water rates were included. This would equate to an extra $42 a year on the average rates bill.

(The Nelson Mail, Friday 5 September 2008)
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COUNCIL REVIEWS FIREPLACE SCRAP RULE

A “ridiculous” council policy is being reviewed after the owner of a working fireplace had to scrap it rather than sell it to be re-used. Nelson City Council environment committee chairwoman Rachel Reese confirmed that council procedure was being reviewed so that fireplaces banned under the council’s Air Quality Plan could leave the area, rather than being cut up for scrap. She initiated the change after reading a letter to the editor of the Nelson Mail in Wednesday’s newspaper from Motueka woman Amanda Smith, who said she had bought a second-hand fireplace to take to a shed in rural Golden Bay, where fireplace emission rules are less restrictive. But in order for the seller to receive a subsidy from the council for switching to a low-emission burner, the old fireplace had to be destroyed for scrap metal.

(The Nelson Mail, Friday 5 September 2008)
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FIVE PROPERTIES MAKE CUT

Five properties in the Nelson region are gold reserve finalists in the Registered Master Builders 2008 House of the Year and RMB Commercial Project Awards. They are: new homes $250,000 to $350,000, Endeavour Homes’ Stoke property; new homes $350,000 to $450,000, Inhaus Ltd’s Little Kaiteriteri property; James Hardie Show Home Award, Inhaus’s Stoke property and Eze Build Ltd’s Tasman property; Meridian Sustainable Homes $500,000 to $1 million, Carlton Richards’ Upper Moutere property. The national winners will be announced on November 8.

(The Nelson Mail, Friday 5 September 2008)
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TASMAN DISTRICT’S WATER ‘AT RISK’

More than 95 percent of the Tasman district’s water supplies could be at risk from a diarrhoea-inducing parasite, a new report shows. The Ministry of Social Development’s regional indicators report shows that during 2006 and 2007 only 4.5 percent of Tasman residents received water from supplies that met standards on cryptosporidium, down from 31 percent in 2005. The Tasman district also received black marks for its E. coli compliance, with only 44.9 percent of its water supplies complying with standards for that bacteria in 2006 and 2007. This was a slight improvement from the 39.5 percent recorded in 2005. Nelson’s water – treated at the city’s $26 million water treatment plant – was again the best in the country, scoring 93 percent compliance for both cryptosporidium and E. coli.

(The Nelson Mail, Saturday 6 September 2008)
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PROPERTY WATCH

Sands sale proves popularThe 10 apartments and two shops in the Sands Complex at Tahunanui that were subject to mortgagee deadline sale attracted 127 offers. Bayleys Nelson principal Graeme Vining said multiple offers were received on each apartment by the deadline on Monday. “We had phenomenal interest and received up to 17 offers per apartment/shop for sale. The offers on the apartments have exceeded the prices paid for comparable units at recent tender and auction marketing campaigns.” The best offers were submitted to Strategic Finance, which called the mortgagee sale, and Bayleys was yesterday awaiting its decisions.

Top price for bank building
The National bank building in Trafalgar St, Nelson has sold at auction for $4.18 million – the top price achieved out of nine commercial premises belonging to the bank that went under the hammer in Christchurch on Tuesday. CB Richard Ellis managing director Mark Macauley said almost 300 people attended the auction and there was “good strong bidding” on the Nelson property. He didn’t know anything about the buyer, other than that it was a New Zealander. All the properties are being leased back to the bank, with the Nelson one returning a yield of 6.78 percent. Yields on the other properties ranged from 5.65 percent for one in Dunedin to 7.3 percent for one in Timaru.

Section sales stagnatingLocal section sales are slow and struggling to meet expectations, with the Real Estate Institute’s July statistics showing that some are even selling under their GV. A 911sq m lot at 15 Baxter Place, Stoke with a GV of $185,000 was listed for $215,000 in April and sold for $160,000, while a 761sq m section at 366 Princes Drive, Nelson was listed for $230,000 in March last year but sold for $180,000. In Mapua, a 5818sq m section at 5/138 Aranui Rd which had a GV of $335,000 sold for $325,000 after being listed for $359,000 in January. There were just 10 section sales across the entire Nelson region during July, and six of those sold below the listing price.

Credit union on the move
Work has started on turning the former Kimberleys store in Trafalgar St, Nelson into a base for Credit Union South. Summit commercial agent Tim McQuade said the credit union was shifting from its existing Bridge St premises to the higher-profile site and intended to be operating there from about mid-October.

Online valuation checks
Quotable Value has launched a new online service for people to track the valuation of their property, and is offering it free this month. Using the example of a four-bedroom home in Arapiki Rd, Stoke, the service shows it started with a GV of $350,000 in September 2006, peaking at $410,000 in March this year before falling back to $370,000 in July and remaining there since then. The service is obtainable on www.qv.co.nz/FreeReport.aspx

(The Nelson Mail, Saturday 6 September 2008)
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This publication is compiled by Duke & Cooke Ltd, valuation and property specialists. The information contained within this newssheet has been obtained from various local sources and no responsibility is held for any parties relying on the accuracy of this information without obtaining independent verification.

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