TDHL hopes to start demolition of buildings in Timaru CBD by January – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

A row of buildings in the heart of Timaru could be gone in three months and a new green space opened within a year, after the council granted its holdings company a demolition consent this week.

Timaru District Holdings Limited (TDHL) general manager Frazer Munro released documents to The Timaru Herald on Tuesday, showing the consent had been granted by the council on a non-notified basis on Monday.

In its application, which was also released by Munro on Tuesday, TDHL described the buildings from 101-107 Stafford St as being in a “very poor state of repair”, except for 105, which was described as being in a “reasonable state of repair”.

The company plans to demolish the buildings, level the site and create a temporary green space, with the aim of then selling them for a permanent development.

Prepared for TDHL by principal planner Kim Seaton, of Novo Group, the application said demolition was “required to enable geotechnical investigations to be undertaken for future building design, a detailed site investigation to be undertaken and better prepare the site for development”.

“The site is intended ultimately to be redeveloped. The future development of the site will be subject to a separate resource consent application.”

The buildings proposed for demolition, which were part of a $1.7 million buy up of properties by the council-controlled organisation in 2018, were…