Inside the eerie, empty courthouse
Christchurch’s former courts buildings are an empty, eerie space.
The names of suspects remain etched in the holding cells, unused soap sachets sit in the showers, the still-running security cameras are now unmanned, while an historic dais sits proudly over an empty high court judge’s bench.
But the emptiness may not last long.
Its owner, the Science Alive education trust, is looking for tenants to fill the empty spaces and says it has received about 30 genuine inquiries in the last two to three weeks.
JLL marketing agent Chris Harding said yesterday the expressions of interest included from the education and hospitality sector.
They included wanting anything from 50 square metres to 5000sqm.
JLL earlier said the holding cells on the lower level of the building could be used as a bar or nightclub, the ground floor could make a good hospitality space, while some of the other space would suit startups.
‘‘It would be a good fit to turn it into an inner-city campus,’’ Harding said.
‘‘There’s not a log of old buildings around in the true CBD.’’
The building was to be water blasted yesterday and the gardens tidied.
The Science Alive educational trust bought the building from Nga¯ i Tahu for $25 million in 2015 and had plans to spend the same amount on developing it for exhibits and learning spaces.
A revision of budgets means Science Alive only has about $5m at its disposal.
The courts building is being marketed at rents discounted from the average $268 to $355 per square metre, to $120 to $200 per sqm for spaces ranging from 70sqm to 2000sqm.