£250,000 Paid For Auckland Property

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30939, 21 December 1965, Page 16

£250,000 Paid For Auckland Property

"Th« Prttt" Special ttrvict

AUCKLAND, Dec. 20. Aa Auckland city site, the Queen street frontage of which cost £34 in 1848, has been sold for £250,000. The property is the Regent Theatre, between Queen street and Lome street. The new owner, Fsiriie Investments, Ltd, plans to erect a new building on the site when the lease of the theatre expires in 1974. The former owner of the site was the Fountain of Friendship Lodge Friendly Society which acquired the Queen street frontage for £34 and paid £450 for two sections in Lome street

A management committee since May, 1957, has been taking steps to dissolve the lodge and the Regent Theatre property was put up for auction in 1960. The best Md of £lOO,OOO was declined. The terras of the present offer provide for part of the total to be paid in cash and part by the issue of debentures.

Mr R. A. Neff, governing director of FairMe Investments, Ltd, said he had been negotiating for the property for the last four years. He could do nothing until the existing lease expired, but then he would erect a new building. It could consist of part shops and part office space. Provision might also be made for a theatre. “I started to build bouses about 12 years ago and now we are one of the biggest builders in the city,” he said. “One cannot keep expanding so it was decided to enter new acids.” Because planning requirements might change within the next eight years, said Mr NeH. it would be impossible to predict the size of the building.