Prominent multi-storeyed Hospital Hill, Napier, boarding hostel and former nurses' home Hinepare is closing - another casualty of nationwide structural risk assessment in the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquakes.
It came as a big shock to hostel proprietors Bruce and Janet Raitt who established the business after leasing the building 14 years ago from the Office of Treaty Settlements (OTS), a Government agency responsible for property landbanked for use in settlement of claims before the Waitangi Tribunal.
The Raitts are understood to have been told about a fortnight ago that the 60-year-old building doesn't meet National Building Standards. As the OTS had no plans to restrengthen the building, a meeting was called to tell residents they would have to go.
A tenant moving out yesterday expressed sorrow for the landlords and said residents had been given "plenty of time" to find alternatives, and some had "landed on their feet".
A sign beside the front entrance spelled out the situation: "Tenanted and less than 33 per cent of NBS. Area: Entire Hinepare Hostel building.