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The long-awaited removal of the TS Chatham building on Tauranga's waterfront could come soon following a sound-out to groups interested in buying it.
Tauranga City Council has called for expressions of interest for the sale and removal of the building, which has sat at the northern end of The Strand since Beazley Homes gifted the building, with a perpetual lease, to the TS Chatham Sea Cadets unit more than four decades ago.
Its days on the waterfront have been numbered since 2003, when it was revealed the building would be swept away as part of the council's $5 million waterfront redevelopment.
The cadets unit moved out in January to their new headquarters near the Tauranga Yacht and Powerboat club.
Council property assets team manager AJ Hardie said various options had been looked at for the building, among them shifting it to the Historic Village.
Once expressions had been received, the interested groups would be sent tender documents to make their bids. Councillors wanted the building gone as soon as possible, Mr Hardie said.
The council was keen for a community group or firm to buy the building and take it away, rather than have to pay a demolition company to clear it on the site, Mr Hardie said.
The Tauranga Sea Cadets' unit commander, Lieutenant Commander Lee White, wanted to see the building given a new lease of life elsewhere in the city.
Mr White believed the building, which had served 30 cadets each year since it was opened in 1968, was a target for vandals in its present state.
"It would be good if it was relocated and resurrected somewhere. It's a great building, with good timber floors - it just needs a bit of TLC to bring it up to new."