CITY LEASES

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 149, 25 June 1915, Page 4

CITY LEASES

MANNERS-STREET WIDENING The Legislation and Reclaimed Land Leases Committee reported to the council last night that it had carefully reconsidered the application of a lessee of certain Market Hall Reserve sections for a reduction of rent, or as an alternative an extension of his present term of 14 years to 42 years, or else that lie b© granted the right of purchase of the freehold of his leases. After negotia- I tions between the officers and the lessee, the committee recommended :— (a) The three leases to be converted into one; (b) the term of the new lease to be for 21 years in lieu of the present 14 years' period, with rights of renewal in 'perpetuity for successive periods of 21 years at valuation ; (c)* the strip of land required for widening Manners-street, to be surrendered by the lessee without compensation, and the strip of land approximately 14ft by 39ft, being portion' of section 13 to be included in the new lease; (d) the rental for the first term of 21 years to remain at the present amount of £1385; (c) that the lessee shall enter into an undertaking to surrender, free of cost to the Corporation, the narrow strip of land fronting Man-ners-street, upon which a building at present stands, Avhenever the building is destroyed, demolished, etc., in order to straighten the line of Manners-street. Councillor Atkinson, chairman of the committee, said that the land proposed to be taken was valued at £1000, and that to be given at £350, a balance of £650 in favour of the council, on the estimates of -the City Valuer. The rental formerly recommended Was £1400, but the City Valuer estimated that the £650 gained was equivalent to an annual rental of £31 for 21 years, so that the difference between the rental originally suggested and that now proposed was only a matter of J34 a year. - The Mayor complimented the committee and the officers on the fair agreement made. By this agreement they completed arrangements for all properties opposite to the Grand Opera House necessary for street widening. Arrangements had already been made with Ross's and Hall's, and regarding Flockton's, while the Police Station was to be removed. It was only a matter of ways and means to have the work carried out and obtain a strict alignment in keeping witli the character of the thoroughfAre and the increasing traffic.