Trust signs key stadium land

The Carisbrook Stadium Trust has wrapped up a deal with Calder Stewart Industries, one of three landowners at the stadium site, to buy land at 2 Awatea St.


Trust chairman Malcolm Farry said yesterday that the deal secured a key piece of land needed for the stadium to go ahead.

While sale and purchase agreements had already been in place, Mr Farry said the time extension given by the Dunedin City Council to complete the work had produced ‘‘a significant windfall'', after some ‘‘very robust negotiations'' that had continued until yesterday.

‘‘All conditions of the contract, including price, have produced a very satisfactory result.''

The deal, upon which Mr Farry would not elaborate further, brings the trust close, but not all the way, to completing a tortuous land acquisition process.

The task is complicated by the leasehold nature of the land. While only three companies own it, others have leases, and those companies may own buildings on the land that they lease to different companies.

Mr Farry said four contracts required more work on their terms and conditions when the trust asked the Dunedin City Council on Monday for more time to complete its task.

‘‘This week, we have resolved all the outstanding matters in three of those contracts.

‘‘We are able to report on one of them today. The other two will be reported on in the next couple of days.''

Mr Farry declined to reveal the one party left ‘‘with outstanding issues''.

‘‘Calder Stewart have demonstrated, in our dealings with them, their very strong commitment to the city and the wider region and they are highly supportive of the new stadium project,'' he said.

There are no buildings on 2 Awatea St.

Calder Stewart director Alan Stewart said he was delighted with the agreement.

‘‘We are a business and have to ensure that we can account to our shareholders for the management of their assets.

‘‘However, we have also been very keen to try and ensure that the path is cleared for the development of the stadium.''

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