Harington St site sold for $1
Carparks to be built on site of failed transport hub
The $1 sale of the multimilliondollar site of the abandoned Harington St Transport Hub has sparked calls for a strategic approach to parking in Tauranga’s CBD.
The Tauranga City Council confirmed yesterday it had reached an unconditional agreement to sell the Harington St site where the part-built parking building stands.
The buyer is Waibop (Harrington) Limited, a subsidiary of Watts and Hughes Construction Group Holdings Limited.
Watts and Hughes was the lead construction contractor on the original transport hub project.
It is not, however, one of the parties the council is pursuing legal action against over structural issues that led to it abandoning the $29m project mid-construction last year.
The agreement covers the sale of the site for $1, the sale of unused materials and structural steel purchased for use in the building, and a negotiated settlement for the cancellation of the construction contract.
In total, the council was paid $200,000.
Council infrastructure general manager Nic Johansson said while the sum was considerably less than the site’s $5.35m land value, it was the best possible outcome for the city — financially and to provide future carparking capacity on the site.
Johansson said the council would have had to spend close to $10m to demolish the existing structure and restore the site if it kept it.
Now, the buyer will have full responsibility for the property, including getting approval to demolish — or partially demolish — the existing structure and redevelop the site.
The buyer had also undertaken to provide and maintain at least 200 public carparking spaces in a new building on the site, or 95 at-grade spaces if the structure is demolished.