The Kaiapoi Railway Station Trust is working with developer Jedd Pearce and the Waimakariri District Council to redevelop the Charles Street site.
Speaking at last week’s Kaiapoi-Tuahiwi Community Board meeting, Waimakariri Deputy Mayor and trust chairperson Neville Atkinson said the redevelopment was long overdue.
‘‘It needs to have something done with it — whether it stays permanently where it is, or is moved.’’
He said the preferred option was to move the building over and line it up with the boardwalk along the Kaiapoi River bank.
Waimakariri District Council community and recreation general manager Chris Brown said a full commercial lease would be considered as part of the makeover.
The Charles Street car park would be redeveloped at the same time.
The community board requested council staff to begin consultation with the community and to report back next year.
The former railway station building has a category 2 rating with Heritage New Zealand.
It was originally built in 1904 beside the railway line near the Williams Street crossing.
According to Heritage New Zealand, it was designed by architect George Alexander Troup as a timber structure in the Edwardian style.
It included a ladies waiting room, luggage room, lamp room and a porters’ room, and was roofed with Marseilles tiles.
The building was damaged in a storm in 1975 and almost two-thirds of the building had to be removed.
It was soon repaired and although passenger services from Kaiapoi ceased to operate the following year, the station continued to sell train tickets until 1986.
The building became neglected, was a target for vandals and survived three fires, including one from a lightning strike.
But it was saved by the actions of local residents and in October 2000 the Kaiapoi Railway Station Trust was formed.
The trust purchased the railway station building and shifted it to a new site on the Kaiapoi River bank in April 2002 when restoration work began.
It was officially reopened the following year and was occupied by the Waimakariri iSite until the September 2010 earthquake.
The quake shifted the building on its foundations and left it leaning towards the river.
It was repaired and moved to a temporary foundation in the Charles Street car park in 2012, with the iSite returning to the building the following year.
The building is now home to the Paris for the Weekend Cafe.
By DAVID HILL, Local Democracy Reporter
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