$6.2m Martinborough revamp advances

IT'S A GO: The first stage of Martinborough Town Hall's refurbishment has got the green light.

The first stage of the multi-million dollar Martinborough Town Hall project has received the tick from South Wairarapa District Council.

Restoration and extension of the historic town hall into a multi-purpose community hub has been approved in principle by councillors, subject to detailed cost estimates and sufficient community fundraising.

The $6.2 million project is estimated to cost the council $3.2 million with the rest to come from community grants and fundraising.

Almost $1 million has already been pledged by donors.

After the council's annual plan consultation last week, it agreed to stage the project, initially committing up to $325,000 to develop a detailed design and costing by a construction project manager.

If the detailed building costs are in line with the estimates, grants will be applied for and if successful, the next stage will proceed.

South Wairarapa Mayor Adrienne Staples said overall, there was strong support for the project based on feedback.

"The efforts of the community through the Martinborough Town Hall Working Group have also been extremely encouraging with a public fundraising campaign already attracting almost $1 million in signed pledges.

"Based on this support, extensive work done by the Martinborough community already, and a council funding plan that has minimal impact on rates, it's time to move this project forward."

Mrs Staples said the rates impact would be limited to the cost of a $900,000 loan to cover the cost of strengthening the building.

The rest of the contribution is to come from land sales and capitalisation of existing budget items into a loan rather than funding it through rates.

"This is essentially swapping some of Martinborough's existing assets for an exciting new asset which will serve the community well into the future," Mrs Staples said.

The detailed design and budget work is to be completed by December when the council will decide whether to proceed to the next stage.

A proposed timeline will be created and a report on the financing created, including whether it will have any impact on funding for other projects.