Bus depot development plan

Press, 4 February 1987, Page 9

Bus depot development plan

The proposal to sell the Railway Road Services bus depot site in Victoria Street has been cancelled. The Railways Corporation would redevelop the site, said its regional property manager in Christchurch, Mr Grant Ancell. In December, 1985, the corporation announced its intention to sell the triangular site, bordered by Peterborough Street and Durham Street.' After much interest was shown in the site, the corporation realised the value of the land and decided that a greater

profit could be made by developing the site itself in partnership with another company, said Mr Ancell. The corporation was gathering facts and figures concerning the site with the help of its property consultant, Graeme Bell and Associates. When that was done the corporation would look for developers prepared to work out the best deal, Mr Ancell said. There were a lot of able Christchurch developers perfectly capable of handling The

developer with the best deal might not necessarily be a Christchurch developer. The corporation is still undecided about developing a high-rise office building or a hotel. The intersection of Kilmore, Durham, and Victoria streets already has two hotels under construction and possibly a third in the pipeline. Mr Ancell said that many of the passenger services conducted at the bus depot had already been transferred to the Christchurch Railway, Station site in Moorhouste

Avenue. The remaining depot services such as parcel handling, maintenance, and storage, would either be transferred to the railway station or a new building, Mr Ancell said. A decision has not yet been made on the relocation of these services but the corporation would use its own land. “We will not build any new facilities off Railways land. We have sufficient land in the right places to cover a number of options,” he said.