CCHL has actively considered a number of options for 2.71ha site
Aprime central Christchurch site worth at least $17 million is being used to store buses, although other options have been explored. The 2.71-hectare property, on the corner of Fitzgerald and Moorehouse Aves, was the main bus depot for Red Bus, a transport provider the local council owned through its commercial arm, Christchurch City Holdings (CCHL).
While Red Bus is gone — its assets were sold to Ritchies after it failed to retain several bus contracts with the regional council, Environment Canterbury (ECan) — CCHL still owns the land through RBL Property.
Christchurch City Council is consulting on significant rates rises — 13.24 per cent in 2024-25 under the draft long-term plan — as it faces steep increases in the cost of delivering services, investing in critical infrastructure and servicing debt.
Last December, councillors shot down a proposal from CCHL that the investment company said would have increased dividends to the council.
Instead of giving it a mandate to be a more active investment manager, councillors tasked CCHL with getting more from the existing assets without seeking outside capital.
While she caveated it by saying CCHL would seek to avoid the worst impacts associated with underinvestment, company chair Abby Foote previously told BusinessDesk: “It’s inevitably a bit of a sweat-the-assets strategy when you say ‘ deliver more with the same amount’.”
Since the council vote, Foote and CCHL chief executive Paul Silk have emphasised to the trading companies the need to lift their operating per