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Duke & Cooke Property News |
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Published on: 14th June 2010 WETLAND TAKING SHAPE WETLAND TAKING SHAPEScores of Nelsonians, including The Glen resident Trish Irvine, spent World Environment Day transforming some paddocks at The Glen, north of Nelson, into a wetland with 7000 grass plants. Nelson City Council operations coordinator Lindsay Barber said the community turnout to the Saturday planting was "a fantastic effort". The council "fairly recently" purchased the former farmland with the idea of making it a wetland where fish, insect and bird habitats could flourish. Nelmac grew 7000 plants for the wetland and these included some "extremely rare" species, Mr Barber said. (The Nelson Mail, Monday 7 June 2010) ONE RATES PAYMENT ADVISED TO AVOID EXTRA GSTNelson property owners are being encouraged to pay this year’s rates in one lump sum to avoid the GST increase later this year, which will bump up the average rates increase from 5.7 per cent to 7.4 per cent. City councillors heard last week that Local Government New Zealand lobbied hard against the Government’s plans to increase GST to 15 per cent from October 1 this year. It will impact on rates payments for all but the first instalment due in August, council strategy and planning manager Mark Tregurtha said. After that date property owners will effectively be paying a 7.4 per cent rates increase. Key Changes - Final rate increase average 5.7 per cent, down from the proposed 6.3 per cent. - Average rates increase 7.4 per cent after introduction of GST increase on October 1. - Proposed removal of the negative differentials on small holdings has been deferred. - Stormwater charges for small holdings to be phased in over two years on properties west of Gentle Annie. - $146,000 has been committed to the design of the proposed Lee Valley Dam. - $35,000 has been dedicated towards reviewing the policy for sealing rural roads. - An additional $10,000 has been directed to central city promotions group Uniquely Nelson. (The Nelson Mail, Tuesday 8 June 2010) BATTLE OVER WATER COSTSIndustrial users keen to retain discounts Three of the biggest industrial users of water in the Nelson region are fighting to retain rights to discounts which have saved them millions of dollars. Tasman District Council chief executive Paul Wylie said other residential and industrial water users had effectively been subsidising the ‘‘significant discounts’’ received by Nelson Pine Industries, the Alliance Group and Enza Foods for decades. The three industries dispute this, saying they helped fund the Waimea water scheme at its inception, enabling their water costs to be kept low. The dispute is headed for arbitration since negotiations to reach a compromise have failed. (The Nelson Mail, Wednesday 9 June 2010) COMPLEX COST ACC $25MInvestment head was adviser to seller ACC has now paid more than $25 million for Nelson’s Fashion Island shopping complex, having been introduced to the struggling investment by a board member who also worked as an adviser to the developer. The 28-store complex has never achieved full occupancy since it opened in December 2007. A Quotable Value spokesman told The Nelson Mail today that its rateable valuation dropped from $20.132m to $17.2m in revaluations last year. (The Nelson Mail, Thursday 10 June 2010) RATES, EARLY-PAYMENT DISCOUNTS LOWEREDThe rise in GST and a ‘‘difficult economic climate’’ has prompted Tasman District Council to lower its predicted rise in rates. The news is not so great for ratepayers seeking to cash in on a unique loophole, however, with the council yesterday reducing the early payment discount to slow people paying on mass before GST rises in October. While Tasman rates will rise 3.97 per cent this year, it is down from the 5.2 per cent predicted in its 10-year plan, with councillors stating a need for restraint. Mayor Richard Kempthorne said at the full council meeting in Richmond yesterday that the council had received submissions asking for the rate rise to be kept to a minimum. (The Nelson Mail, Thursday 10 June 2010) GYM PROPOSED FOR AQUATIC CENTREA planned fitness centre in Richmond has got the blood pumping at Tasman District Council, with its mayor describing it as a ‘‘win-win’’ for the community. Community Leisure Management (CLM), the company contracted to manage the ASB Aquatic Centre in Richmond, approached the council to allow it to build a fitness centre at the complex. It plans to spend $1 million on the project, while the council would be expected to contribute $325,000, with $150,000 of this coming from money that’s left over from the development of a new learners pool. The new gym is expected to generate at least $26,000 a year from 2013-14 and $60,000 a year from 2018-19. The gym would be owned by the council but CLM stands to benefit from most of its returns. (The Nelson Mail, Friday 11 June 2010) DELEGATION ADMIRES INNOVATIVE BUILDINGThe Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology’s groundbreaking Arts and Media building being erected on Nile St was given the once-over yesterday. A delegation of interested parties was led through the three-storey building, which its designers say is a world first for innovative use of wood in a multi-storeyed building. It incorporates a new generation of earthquake-resistant engineering. Andrew Irving, of Irving Smith Jack Architects, which won a competition for the design of the building, said its simplicity and elegance betrayed the amount of research that had gone into it. The Government has pledged $8.13 million towards the three-storey timber-framed building which is expected to cost about $9m. The remaining funding is to come from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, which ran the competition for the building’s design. Principal engineer John Finnegan said the timber construction from laminated veneer lumber allowed every design and structural property one would expect from concrete. All materials from inception to erection have been sourced and manufactured in a 100-kilometre radius from Nelson. NMIT chief executive Tony Gray said he was looking forward to the building opening early next year. (The Nelson Mail, Friday 11 June 2010) PROPERTY WATCHCurtain closes at Playhouse The new lessee of the Playhouse Cafe and Theatre near Mapua appears to have given up on the venture within a matter of weeks, adding to its troubled history. Elizabeth Catering owner Phillip Thorn leased the premises from Fico Finance, which took over the property when its former owners Rob and Susanna Moles closed the doors and fled the country earlier this year. Fico Finance chief executive Geoff Lawes said he was in discussions with the lessee. ‘‘It looks like they have conceded defeat. They found it a difficult environment in which to work,’’ he said. Mr Lawes declined to comment further, and Mr Thorn also declined to comment. No buyer for fundraiser house A family home in Richmond developed as a fundraiser for an orphanage in Zimbabwe failed to sell at auction this week. The four-bedroom home at 32a Crescent St was being marketed by Harcourts agent Karen Horner, who spent several weeks at the Khayelihle Children’s Village in Zimbabwe last year. Harcourts sales manager Mike Rollo said the property attracted one bidder and was passed in at $340,000. It is now listed for $369,000. Another property that Harcourts had for sale by auction this week, the old Thorpe store at 1445 Dovedale Rd, was passed in at $430,000 and is now listed for sale at $455,000. Meanwhile, a two-plus bedroom home at 75 Konini St, Nelson attracted bids up to $230,000 and sold immediately after auction to the highest bidder, for an undisclosed sum. Shop hop for Sheepskin Shop The Nelson Sheepskin Shop in Bridge St is on the move. Richard Priest, a director of the Rente Corporation, which has owned the business for about 10 years, said he hoped to have the store operating from the former Bodywise premises a few doors down in about three weeks. ‘‘It’s a gut instinct move. It was time for a change.’’ He said the store’s factory, which produced a lot of the fur and sheepskin products sold by the store, had been downsized to cater solely for the local market, which accounted for most of its business. Mr Priest said the store was probably one of the oldest in Nelson, having operated for 65 years. Award winner sells under GV A ‘‘state-of-the-art, award-winning’’ Mahana home valued at $1.1 million has sold for just $951,000. The house sits on a 3949-square-metre property at 17 Petra Way, off Old Coach Rd, and features three bedrooms, two bathrooms and two-car garaging. It has a rateable value of $1.1m. After being on the market for many months, it was advertised that the vendor would consider ‘‘any reasonable offer’’. Ray White agent Mike Harvey said it had become home to ‘‘some very satisfied purchasers’’. Confusion in rental market Demand for rental properties in Nelson has dropped, Nelson Property Investors Association secretary Glenn Morris says in the organisation’s latest newsletter. ‘‘My vacancy list is climbing and I am having more trouble finding good tenants for them.’’ He also noted a small increase in groups of families applying for larger homes, a small number of people heading to Australia and making their homes available for rent, and some holiday home owners slashing their rent to attract longer-term tenants. ‘‘Probably the best way to describe the current market is confusion. In my opinion, the market will quickly adjust and it will not be long before there will be a very firm demand for good rental properties again. Probably most landlords will use those better times to recover the lost income by increasing rents, perhaps by about $20 per week.’’ (The Nelson Mail, Saturday 12 June 2010) THOUGHT FOR THE WEEKIf a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he homeless or naked? |
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