Heritage Buildings
The Heritage Buildings have been a substantial component of the construction of the Wellington Inner City Bypass. With 19 historic buildings needing to be relocated, and 18 of these needing restoration, the historic work has made the project unique and interesting for all parties involved. This section outlines the list of heritage buildings affected, where they are now at and provides some background on their uses in previous times.
What's happening to the heritage buildings along the Wellington Inner City Bypass route?
As mentioned above, the exteriors of 18 heritage buildings were restored as part of the Inner City Bypass project. The interior restoration work will be carried out by the new owners to suit their own purposes.
Now that the Bypass is finished, the properties are going through the standard Crown process for the sale of surplus Crown-owned land. Under this process some of the properties will be offered for sale to former landowners and the balance, plus any properties that former owners elect not to purchase, will be considered by the Crown for settling Treaty of Waitangi claims. Land not acquired by former owners or by iwi can then be offered for sale to the general public on the open market.
How are we deciding what happens to the land?
First, Land Information New Zealand determines whether there are any exemptions to each parcel of land being offered back to its previous owner to buy (or to their immediate successors if the owner is deceased). This process is set out under Section 40 of the Public Works Act 1981.
This stage has been complex for several reasons: the Crown acquired some of the land as early as the 1940s; buildings have been moved; many buildings straddle original property boundaries; and, in some cases, remaining properties are much smaller than they originally were, as the road has been built over part of the original title. Here's a map (PDF, 1.22MB) of where the buildings were and where they have been moved to.
The process LINZ has been working through has been a rigorous one, because former landowners may have rights to buy back a property (unless an exemption applies), and their entitlement to do this needs to be carefully assessed.
As part of the standard disposal process iwi interest is taken into account. The Office of Treaty Settlements website has further information.
Here's a flow chart (PDF, 12KB), which also explains the process.
What stage are we up to?
Decision regarding
whether land bought for the Inner City Bypass project will be offered back to former owners
have now been made. LINZ has determined that four parcels of land in the Heriitage Precinct are part of this offer back process to people or direct descendants that the Crown originally purchased land from.
As of May 2009 one former land owner has declined the opportunity to repurchase and of the remaining three parcels of land, no eligible descendants have been found for one. For the other two parcels, one offerback is being recommended to LINZ while an overseas search for the former owners of the last parcel of land has almost concluded.
The land that is exempt from offerback to previous owners, or declined for repurchase by a previous owner, will be referred to the Office of Treaty Settlements when new property titles have been issued.
Before we can apply for new property titles, survey plans need to be prepared that formalise the new road boundaries and reconfigure the existing property titles to reflect where the relocated buildings are now sited. In effect, we are creating, and seeking approval for, new inner city subdivisions, which is why the process takes some time. This work is now well advanced, though.
If the property is not acquired by the Office of Treaty Settlements, after assessing it for iwi interest, it will be offered for sale on the open market.
We appreciate it is this last step that people are more interested in and we ask you to be patient while we work through the process required of us by law.
What happens if a former owner (or the next generation of their successors) does not wish to buy back the land or land is exempted from being offered back?
In these circumstances land is generally referred to the Office of Treaty Settlements which will assess it for potential landbanking for use in future Treaty of Waitangi settlements.
If the property has already been included as a right of first refusal property in a Treaty of Waitangi settlement then the iwi concerned will be given the opportunity to purchase.
The Heritage Precinct land is included in the proposed Taranaki Whanui Treaty of Waitangi settlement. In anticipation of this settlement being passed into law, discussions are already underway with Taranaki Whanui regarding their potential interest in the properties.
If property that has been referred to the Office of Treaty Settlements is not landbanked or taken up by iwi under a right of first refusal, it will then be offered for sale on the open market.
Why are the relocated properties vacant in the meantime?
The interiors of the relocated buildings are not fit for occupation. These buildings are zoned for either commercial, residential or retail use, so it will be up to the new owners to fit out the buildings to meet their purposes. Undertaking the interior work prior to selling the buildings would have added extra costs, may have resulted in fitouts that were inappropriate for the eventual purchasers’ end use and may have detrimentally impacted on the ability of former landowners to re-purchase because of the resulting increase in building values.
These buildings are part of Wellington's history, and significant work has been carried out to ensure their exteriors are restored appropriately. While the various stages of the sale process are worked through the buildings are fully alarmed and monitored. If you see anything you wish to report, please contact DTZ New Zealand property management on 0800 800 885.
Six non-relocated Transit properties in Kensington Street, Cuba Street and Footscray Avenue (i.e. in the vicinity of the Heritage Precinct) are occupied by residential and commercial tenants.
Why is the disposal process taking so long?
The Crown disposal process is undertaken in accordance with the provisions of the Public Works Act (PWA). The PWA requires the disposing authority (NZTA) to consider future public work requirements (including those of local authorities), the rights of former owners and the Crown’s obligations with regard to the settlement of Maori land claims.
The relocation of 19 buildings to new sites, sometimes straddling multiple historic title boundaries, is unusual and has complicated the determination of the rights of former owners.
The physical sections as they now exist are in the main defined by the relocated buildings and their surrounds, not by former parcel boundaries. It has been necessary to survey the new physical sections and to seek formal subdivision consent from the Wellington City Council for the new layouts. Upon receipt of these consents (there have been 4 subdivision applications) the next step will be to request Land Information New Zealand to issue new property titles.
The road survey, carried out in conjunction with the property surveys, is particularly complicated due to the number of small and historic titles involved. This survey has now been completed and work to legalise it is underway.
