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A partnership with huge advantages was how mayor Garry Moore described the city council's joint venture with Ngai Tahu to buy the NZ Post building in Hereford St and redevelop it as a new civic building.
The decision on the site was made at a publicly excluded committee meeting following the last city council meeting for the current term yesterday.
"It is step one in a partnership with Ngai Tahu and we see this as a major step forward," said Mr Moore at a media conference following the meeting.
Ngai Tahu chairman Mark Solomon said Ngai Tahu was similarly pleased and he called the decision the start of a "most important partnership."
"We are delighted to have been selected to partner the Christchurch City Council on this important building for the city," he said.
"The city council and Ngai Tahu are both here for the long-haul and have an aligned vision for the city."
The new site will be developed by a joint venture company Tuam2 Ltd, which is 50 per cent owned by the city council and 50 per cent by Ngai Tahu Property Ltd.
Each partner will contribute $52.5 million to the redevelopment of the building's $105 million capital cost.
The building, designed for 1000 staff, will be completed in mid-2010 and will be leased to the city council.
Mr Moore said he was delighted to announce progress on the new civic building at the end of his nine-year term as mayor.
"It is appropriate that this city council, already committed to the new civic building, makes a decision on the site," he said.
However, 2021 mayoral candidate Megan Woods questioned whether the city council had the right to make a decision on the new civic building two days before the local body elections.
"The polls close in a matter of hours and people have been denied the chance to have their say," she said.
"It's a hurried decision and has not followed due process. It was secretive and taken behind closed doors."
City council communications manager Diane Keenan said there were legitimate reasons for the last-minute presentation of the report to council and the subsequent 'secret' vote.
"Vbase was originally supposed to present a report on the civic site to the city council in September, unfortunately this is the earliest they could get it together," she said.
"The public were excluded due to the commercial sensitivity involved regarding the tender process."
Dr Woods said she had been campaigning on openness and transparency and this was an example of what she wanted to see end.
She took a shot at her main mayoral rival Bob Parker saying in a mayoral debate that he stated he would vote to defer decisions such as the one made yesterday.
However, Mr Parker said he had based his vote on what was best for the city. "If we hadn't voted for this proposal our community would have lost the opportunity to save over $50 million," he said.
"I always said I would support the best building in the best place for the best cost."
The council voted 12-1 to proceed with the proposal. The only dissenting councillor was Helen Broughton.
"I was the lone vote against this. I felt it was the wrong way to be doing this. I still believe the decision on the civic site should have been left up to the new council," she said.
- CHRISTCHURCH STAR
