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Duke & Cooke Property News |
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Published on: 26th April 2010 VILLAGE MIRED IN STRIFE VILLAGE MIRED IN STRIFECharity status abolished The organisation behind an ecovillage in Motueka Valley has been struck off the Charities Commission register. Atamai Village Council trustee Jurgen Heissner said it had done everything above board and maintained any problems were the result of others causing trouble. - The concept – A self-sustainable village with up to 50 sections for high-quality, energy-efficient houses, no bigger than 150 square metres. Owners pay open-market prices for freehold titles and shares in common areas, including farming land and a village square with a cafe, bakery, library and a multi-use community centre. Cars are not allowed. - Progress to date – Resource consent has been granted for the first 10 sections, three of which have sold. Sale agreements are in place for a further four. It is hoped that the next batch of 20 sections will become available later this year. (The Nelson Mail, Monday 19 April 2010) LOG-PRICE RISE HITS BUILDING AND FIREWOODThe soaring cost of wood will hit firewood prices and home construction. The cost of timber is going up because China is buying more logs and sawn timber, raising the benchmark for New Zealand log prices. Master Builders Federation chief executive Warwick Quinn said homeowners were building smaller houses to offset rising construction costs. ‘‘What we are seeing now is a reduction in the size and value of homes being built. Before the crash, houses were usually costing around $250,000 to $300,000 to build. Now people are building smaller homes at a lower price.’’ Tasman District Council environment and planning manager Dennis Bush-King said the average house size in the district reduced from 211 square metres to 188 sq m during the past two years. New Zealand saw millers saw log prices rise 10 per cent on April 1 and are expecting a similar increase in June. (The Nelson Mail, Monday 19 April 2010) GRADUAL HOUSING RECOVERYHouses are selling more quickly and for better prices than they were a year ago in Nelson Marlborough, according to the latest Real Estate Institute statistics. The median number of days it took to sell in March was 37, compared with 55 the previous month and 44 in March 2009. The median sale price in Nelson-Tasman during March was $353,250, compared with $320,000 in March last year and $358,750 in February. (The Nelson Mail, Monday 19 April 2010) ACC SACKS MANAGER - SFO PROBE LAUNCHEDA senior ACC employee has been sacked after an investigation triggered by the organisation’s shift into an expensive, new, purpose-built office block in Nelson. Nelson MP and ACC Minister Nick Smith today told the Mail that the investigation was prompted by concerns about the corporation’s new offices at 47 Collingwood St. ACC's Nelson Property 1996 – The Automobile Company buys the 712sq m Collingwood St site for $562,500 2007/8 – The property, with a rateable value of $780,000, is sold for $1.2 million to a Wellington-based company. An office block costing an estimated $2.1m is developed to be tenanted by ACC. January 2009 – ACC signs a 12-year lease on the 806sq m building, with a further right of renewal for nine years. The $346,320-a-year rental represents a 249 per cent increase in ACC’s previous lease on a Hardy St office block. December 2009 – The building sells to a Rotorua-based company for $4.825m. Its RV is $2.55m. (The Nelson Mail, Tuesday 20 April 2010) BOARD TO SELL $10M OF SURPLUS PROPERTYThe Nelson Marlborough District Health Board has started the process of selling off $10 million of property in Nelson, Stoke, Blenheim, Tapawera and Murchison to invest in Wairau and Nelson hospital redevelopments. Finance and commercial general manager Nigel Trainor said the properties, which included private residences and houses used by intellectually disabled service users, were ‘‘surplus to requirements’’. The board bought many of the properties when institutions such as Braemar and Ngawhatu were closed in the mid-90s and mental health service users were moved into the community. Selling them was not related to the hospital’s recovery plan or its deficit, but had been planned in the hospital’s district annual plan, Mr Trainor said. (The Nelson Mail, Tuesday 20 April 2010) NEW ANGELUS HUT READY TO RECEIVE VISITORSThe new Angelus Hut built by the Department of Conservation is one of most New Zealand’s expensive, with total construction costs of $780,000. The new hut, on the shores of Lake Angelus in Nelson Lakes National Park, can withstand winds of up to 270kmh, comfortably sleep 28 people and provide living and eating space for 38. The construction cost was $530,000, with engineering, insulation and design costs pushing the total up to $780,000 – not including the payments for the helicopter to deliver men and goods to the site. The hut features improved insulation, with double-glazed panoramic windows that look out over the lake. It has been structurally engineered with wood to enable the roof to hold up five metres of snow per square metre. (The Nelson Mail, Wednesday 21 April 2010) MAITAI CLUB SALE STALLED, FUTURE BLACKThe Maitai Club is facing financial ruin after the city council thwarted a potential sale of the building by rebuffing a request to extend the lease on the site. The council is now saying it wants to future-proof the land for its own use. It has a multitude of options on the table, but is focusing on a project in relation to a traffic study. Maitai Club president Peter Fisher and Ngati Tama Manawhenua Ki Te Tau Ihu Trust chairman Fred Te Miha, who represents the iwi which put in an offer on the building, fronted up to a public forum at today’s city council meeting, where they tabled a letter formally requesting a review of the lease decision. They asked the council to reconsider extending the lease which expires in 2014. They told councillors that the council had a moral obligation, based on historical grounds, to renew the lease or pay for the building so the club could pay its creditors. (The Nelson Mail, Thursday 22 April 2010) PAID 'FAIR PRICE' FOR ACC BUILDING - OWNERA community trust closely linked to a former attorney general now owns the Nelson property which has sparked a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) probe into ACC property deals. Paul East, QC, a former National Cabinet minister and one-time high commissioner to London, says the Rotorua Trust Perpetual Capital Fund paid a fair price for the Collingwood St building. Mr East is a director of the Rotorua trust’s company, called Thirteen Fifty Eight Ltd. The company bought the Nelson ACC office in December 2009 for $4.825m. Neither Mr East nor the company is being investigated by the SFO but there are suggestions they paid too much for the two-storeyed Nelson office. ACC Minister Nick Smith refused to open the building because of concerns over the $346,320-a-year rent, which a local agent has said is probably twice the going rate, meaning the property will fall in value once the lease expires. (The Nelson Mail, Thursday 22 April 2010) CALL FOR MAITAI CLUB LEASE RENEWALNelson City Council has a moral obligation to consider an application for renewal of the lease on the site occupied by the Maitai Bowling Club, but clarification of the beleaguered club’s situation is needed first, says long-serving city councillor Mike Cotton. The Maitai Club is facing financial ruin after the council declined a request to consider extending the lease beyond the expiry date of 2014, which means the building cannot be sold. The council said it would consider assigning a lease to a new owner, but was not in a position to extend the current finish date of the lease. (The Nelson Mail, Friday 23 April 2010) RETIREMENT VILLAGE DEALS SURVEYEDNelson Grey Power is surveying retirement villages in the region and will distribute the results to its nearly 12,000 members in an exercise to ‘‘compare apples with apples’’, says vice-president Pam Schouten. Mrs Schouten said the survey had already begun, with excellent cooperation from the villages spoken to so far. It was prompted by the wide variation in retirement village contracts, and she expected it would be some months before the results were ready for publication, possibly in September. (The Nelson Mail, Saturday 24 April 2010) WATER RESTRICTIONS THREATEN WAIMEA CROPSTen hectares of vegetable crops on the Waimea Plains may die if rain doesn’t fall soon. The crops make up part of Nelson grower John Ewers’ market gardens, which face irrigation cuts from Monday. The cut is due to the Tasman District Council Dry Weather Taskforce’s enforcement of the second stage of water restrictions which slashes water usage by permit holders on the Waimea Plains by 35 per cent. The district is in a one-in-10 year drought and only 4mm of rain has fallen this month, which is hitting many market gardeners and farmers particularly hard and making a dent in the local economy. (The Nelson Mail, Saturday 24 April 2010) DEVELOPER HAS PLANS FOR STRIPA Nelson developer who has purchased the Shooters and Grumpy Mole bars is keen to clean up Bridge St. Nick Ward confirmed that he and two silent partners had bought both properties for an undisclosed price from Australian-based company CEA Trading, which is in receivership. The Grumpy Mole, which has been closed since last August, had been leased to a ‘‘successful local operator’’ who would announce his plans in due course, he said. Meanwhile, Mr Ward will take charge of Shooters, and hopes to develop its upper level into upscale backpacker accommodation with ensuites in time for the Rugby World Cup. He said he wanted to see Bridge St become a place where people in their 30s could go out for food and drink without feeling intimidated. (The Nelson Mail, Saturday 24 April 2010) PROPERTY WATCHSections option favoured A 70-hectare block in Old Coach Rd, Mahana looks likely to be carved into sections. Developer Nick Ward has been seeking to sell the land, which has a Rateable Value of $2.5 million, for some time. He said he already had consent to develop it into 52 sections. ‘‘We’re in the process of looking at all options, but we’re probably going to look at developing it.’’ Work has recently been done on the property, eradicating gorse, sowing grass and refencing. Mr Ward said he would still sell if a buyer came along. Asking price achieved An Ajax Avenue property in central Nelson which sold through Green Door Real Estate achieved the asking price of $1.7 million, according to the latest Real Estate Institute statistics. The Nelson Mail reported last month that the luxury three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment overlooking the Maitai River had been sold by its owner, Nelson businessman Granville Dunstan. The sale price was not available at the time. The property has an RV of $865,000. Meanwhile, a four-bedroom home at 14 Aratia Way, Richmond with an RV of $810,000 went for $855,000 after being listed in January for $885,000. Restaurant reopens The Turf Hotel in Stoke has reopened its restaurant following refurbishments and rebranding. Owner-operators Gary Spanjer and Andy Dwyer have renamed the restaurant Spangees and are marketing it as a place where people can get a three-course meal for under $30. The restaurant was quietly reopened last week, Mr Dwyer said. ‘‘Last weekend was reasonably busy. We were pleasantly surprised by the amount of people who came in and tried it just through word of mouth.’’ Section prices falter Nelson section prices appear to be dropping. Recent sales show that they are often going for below asking price, and sometimes below RV. Examples include a 742-square metre section at 31 Woodstock Place, Stoke, which sold in March for $190,000 despite having an RV of $210,000. A 989sq m section at 7 Pinnacle Place, Wakatu with an RV of $170,000 went for $120,000 last month, and a 618sq m section at 7 Jenner Rd, Nelson with an RV of $85,000 sold in February for $70,000. Re/Max Elite owner and section specialist Kate Bradley said some of the sections selling for lower prices had either been on the market for a while or were not so easy to build on. (The Nelson Mail, Saturday 24 April 2010) THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK“The optimist sees opportunity in every danger; the pessimist sees danger in every opportunity.” |
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