Grant considered for historic Addington buildings

A developer keen to repair and refurbish the historic Woods Mill buildings in Addington could get $900,000 in financial support from Christchurch City Council.

The buildings  – a four storey building and a two storey building in Wise St that date back to about 1886 – are two extremely rare examples of very large scale early industrial buildings in Christchurch.

At its meeting on Thursday the Council will consider a report which recommends it re-allocate a $900,000 heritage incentive grant it previously approved to Loprinzi Properties Ltd, which is the latest company to express an interest in developing the quake-damaged Woods Mill buildings.

The Woods Mill buildings in Addington.

The buildings have sat empty since the earthquakes but are highly prized because of their exceptionally high quality architecture and because they are the best surviving examples of large scale 19th century industrial buildings.

Back in 2012 the Council agreed to provide a heritage incentive grant of $884,000 to a developer who was proposing to repair and refurbish the quake-damaged buildings, but that project did not proceed and the grant money was never paid out.

In April 2014 another development proposal for the buildings was put forward to the Council and based on that proposal the Council approved a heritage incentive grant of $900,000. However, that development never eventuated and the grant was not paid out as the grant scheme only allows funds to be paid out upon completion of works.

Now Loprinzi Properties Ltd is looking to buy the buildings. It wants to turn them into a commercial and retail complex, retaining as much of the heritage fabric of the original buildings as possible.

It estimates the cost of the development at $7.6 million and is seeking to have the $900,000 heritage incentive grant the Council approved in 2014 transferred to it.

In a report prepared for the Council meeting the Council’s Heritage Team Leader Brendan Smyth recommends the Council support the retention of a “highly significant and unusual industrial heritage building’’ by reallocating the grant.

The report acknowledges the Woods Mill buildings have been the subject of previous attempts at redevelopment which have faltered due to the scale and complexity of the task but says the new and innovative engineering approach Loprinzi Properties Ltd is proposing to take to the buildings make the chances of successful completion more likely.

Read the full report.