ICC pumps $5.45m into CBD

The Invercargill City Council has so far pumped $5.45 million into the upcoming CBD development and it may put in more.

Invercargill City Properties Limited, which is owned by the council and has a 49.9 percent share in HWCP Management Ltd, which is behind the development, initially committed $5.2m to the venture.

Last year it committed a further $250,000 for a total of $5.45m.

City council chief executive Clare Hadley said the first $5.2m was to enable HWCP to consolidate ownership of the buildings in the inner city with the purchase of land and property.

The $250,000 was for costs associated with holding those properties.

Neither the council, nor its company Invercargill City Properties Limited, had since committed any further funds to the CBD upgrade.

‘‘Any further investment by the Invercargill City Council will be subject to consultation with the community [and] any decision would be for the council,’’ Hadley said.

Invercargill Mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt said there had been huge public support for the project and he believed there would be a feeling of great disappointment if it didn’t go ahead.

Shadbolt did not directly answer whether he believed the council should put more money

into the CBD development, but said: ‘‘If that’s what the people want, the council will respond.’’

HWCP Management Ltd director Scott O’Donnell said he was in discussions with funding partners to see how much they could commit.

When HWCP had firmed up its costings for the project it would ask the council what sort of shareholding it wanted and how much more it could put in.

‘‘They have to work out whether they can commit more funds and what level that will be,’’ O’Donnell said.

The CBD project may cost between $160m and $190m for the parts HWCP is going to build and about $200m in total.

The options for the council were from contributing no more money to something like $20m, O’Donnell said.

Invercargill Ratepayers Advocacy Group spokesman Nobby Clark said the group was against council investment in the CBD development.

The council’s track record in property investment, including the Don St building and Awarua industrial land, was a mess, he said.

‘‘The private sector should be encouraged to come in.

‘‘If it’s an OK venture, the private sector should fund it.’’

City councillor Ian Pottinger said Clark was entitled to his view.

Councillors were to have a briefing on the CBD development last night, Pottinger said.

‘‘You only have to look at the block [now], my belief is the public want to go ahead with it.’’

The council needed more information before a funding figure was proposed and it went out for public consultation, he said.

‘‘We are the guys with the purse strings so we have to do the due diligence.’’

‘‘If that’s what the people want, the council will respond.’’ Mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt