Expressions of interest have closed for a prime parcel of land in Wellington’s largest suburb, with residents hoping something finally happens with the abandoned site.
The 3ha site between Donald St and Campbell St was transferred from the ministry to the university for just $10 in 2014. The university then deemed it surplus to requirements in 2016 and sold it to Ryman Healthcare for $28 million.
Ryman had planned to develop it into a retirement village with hospital and dementia care available, with resource consent granted in 2022 for more than 300 units.
But plans fell through with the company telling stakeholders in May it had decided to put the site on the market.
“Since purchasing it, challenging market conditions and construction cost inflation have resulted in this site no longer being suitable for our planned development,” Ryman said in an email at the time.
Real estate agency CBRE is handling the sale, describing the site as an “unparalleled development opportunity” which “offers exceptional potential in a highly sought-after metropolitan location”.
CBRE director Dharmendra Mistry is pitching the property as a once-in-a-lifetime chance “to provide much-needed additional housing into the Wellington market” through medium density residential development.
“This is one of the largest residential sites available for development in Wellington’s central suburbs. It’s a highly significant opportunity to plan a development which contributes a meaningful volume of new housing stock into the city, at a time when new homes are desperately needed,” Mistry said in a press release.
The agency says the block of land is an ideal candidate for three-storey townhouses, up to 11 metres high.
Expressions of interest closed for the property yesterday. It is unknown how many parties have expressed interest, with CBRE declining to comment due to commercial sensitivity.
The Karori site has been neglected since 2016. Photo / CBRE
Karori Residents Association chair and real estate agent Andrea Skews told the Herald there are “a lot of strong feelings and a lot of different opinions” in the community about what should happen with the property.
“With 16,000 residents, it’s pretty hard to get an agreement on what everybody wants.”
Skews said it was a prime piece of land which poses “unlimited options” for the community.
She said there was great appetite for another large retirement home, as well as discussions of a secondary school, despite the Ministry of Education not being interested.
There has also been talk of more residential housing or community facilities for the site.
But while Skews is hopeful something will happen, she isn’t holding her breath for development any time soon.
“It could be sitting idle for years to come, we just have to wait and see what happens I suppose, but obviously people want to see progress.
“What we’d really like to see is whoever does purchase it considers what the community needs and builds for people, rather than margins”, she said.
The property is owned by Ryman and is situated in the heart of Karori. Photo / CBRE
Locals were devastated in 2016 when the university decided the site was surplus to requirements, because the community used facilities there including a gymnasium, tennis and netball courts and a dance studio.
The ministry had previously hoped to buy some of the land but negotiations broke down with the university.
At one point, the ministry understood it was exclusively negotiating for land under the Public Works Act while the university thought that process had finished, and wanted to list the site on the open market.
The site was then sold to Ryman Healthcare in 2017.
The company, which is New Zealand’s largest listed retirement owner-operator, said the results showed a turnaround was under way.
Higher revenue came from the company providing more hospital-level care and reaping more money from deferred management fees, set at 20% of purchase prices – the money it retains when people leave their places due to illness or death.
But the impacts of impairments and other one-off costs ($283.9m, FY23: $175.4m) and a lower fair value gain on investment properties led to a plunge in net profit after tax, the company said.
There was an impairment loss of $37.6m for the Karori site and a sale was expected within 12 months, it said.
Ethan Manera is a multimedia journalist based in Wellington. He joined NZME in 2023 and is interested in politics, local issues and the public service. Ethan is always on the lookout for a story and can be emailed at ethan.manera@nzme.co.nz or messaged on X (formerly Twitter) via the handle @ethanjmanera.
