Crown acquires building
The Crown has finally acquired the NG building, the last privately-owned property standing on the site planned for Christchurch’s new stadium.
Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy gazetted a notice on Tuesday which said the land at 212-214 Madras St had been taken under the Greater Christchurch Regeneration Act. Acquisition has been completed, and the Government will legally become the owner of the building on May 4.
But the future of the 115-year-old building is unclear, as the Crown says it remains open to the idea of the building being deconstructed or salvaged, so long as doing so does not affect the new stadium.
There is no right of objection under the legislation used to acquire the NG building.
The Christchurch City Council previously confirmed that the site needed to be cleared to make way for the $473 million stadium being built across the three city blocks bordered by Madras, Hereford, Barbadoes and Tuam streets.
Lydia Bloy, group manager for Crown property from Land Information New Zealand (Linz), which is responsible for acquiring land, said the Crown notified the owners on April 14 that it would proceed with compulsory acquisition.
‘‘Linz appreciates this is not the decision the property owners were hoping for,’’ Bloy said. She said Linz had been trying since last year to acquire the building by mutual agreement.
Confirmation of the acquisition of the NG building brings to a close a long fight by the owners to save it.
Owners Roland Logan and Sharon Ng had expressed an interest to move the building to a different place on the stadium site, or even to another piece of nearby land if it could be purchased.
They previously said their primary concern was saving the building.
Logan declined to comment yesterday, but the couple have previously said they would consider taking legal action.