Hilltop an investment with a view

Napier's landmark Hospital Hill site, featuring 360-degree views, has been placed on the market.

The site contains the former Napier Hospital and offers a spectacular outlook over Napier City and suburbs to Hawke's Bay, the Pacific Ocean, surrounding countryside and nearby mountains.

The sale ends more than 130 years of Crown involvement in a property that encompasses close to 5ha of prime hilltop land in the city's prestigious residential area of Napier Hill.

Located on the site are 17 former main hospital buildings, totalling 29,354sq m. These have been progressively vacated as medical services have been transferred to the new regional hospital in Hastings and new health facilities in central Napier.

The property is being put up for sale by the Crown Health Financing Agency which took ownership of the site in 2003.

Chief executive Graeme Bell says the net proceeds of the sale will be returned to the Hawke's Bay District Health Board for investment in health care services in the province.

The property is being offered for sale by international tender to ensure the best price is achieved.

It had a capital valuation last year of $7.1 million.

Bayleys Realty Group is marketing the property, with Rollo Vavasour and Eoin Carty, from Bayleys Hawke's Bay, and David Bayley, from Bayleys' Auckland office, handling the tender.

Tenders close on August 11 and will only be considered for the property in its entirety.

Carty says the prime elevated site is on the highest point of the northern side of Napier Hill.

It is widely recognised as one of the most significant urban development opportunities in New Zealand because of its size, views and location, as well as the infrastructure already in place on the property.

"It's no secret that there has been huge interest in the property," says Carty.

The property was first purchased by the Crown in 1855. Situated on historic Napier Hill, with commanding views north to the Mahia Peninsula and south to Cape Kidnappers, the site was initially considered of such vital strategic importance that it was originally used as a military barracks.

The Hawke's Bay Hospital Board was established in 1876 and offered £50 for the best design for a new hospital building on the site.

Sixteen entries were received and one under the pseudonym Hope won the prize for Walter A. Dugleby.

However, the prize money was not ratified until the architect satisfied the board that a building could be erected of totara or kauri with concrete foundations, for about £3000. With the assistance of the Napier jailer, prison labour was used to dig the foundations and for other site works.

The hospital was opened in 1880, being described in the local press as imposing and handsome. It consisted of four wings surrounding an open square and offered private rooms for patients who could afford a fee of six shillings a day.

New buildings and wards were added to the hospital as it expanded, until February 3, 1931 when the Napier earthquake struck and 19 people, including nurses and patients, were killed.

Hospital pharmacist Joe Peel wrote: "In less than a minute this fine institution of 250 beds was just a heap of rubble."

The hospital was rebuilt, with by far the biggest project being the construction of the medical wards and clinical services tower block which began in 1966. The eight-level, 12,329sq m complex was commissioned in 1970 and comprises two separate but adjoining structures. Its floors range in size from 757sq m to 1855sq m and the building is serviced by four lifts.

Vavasour says the block is constructed of reinforced concrete and is by far the largest building on Napier Hill.

The area's current zoning of "Napier Hill character residential" means it is unlikely resource consent would be granted to erect a new building of this height or size on the site, he says. However the building could be adapted for a number of uses.

Vavasour says the property has potential for residential, retirement, educational, tourist accommodation or office development or a combination of different uses.

There are at least three other buildings that could be useful to developers, Vavasour says.

These include the four-level 3839sq m former Arohaina maternity home, built in 1954 and upgraded and added to in 1975.

The site also includes a 2000 sq m modern three-level kitchen and cafeteria building constructed in the mid 80s, and a former 3258 sq m three-level surgical theatre block built in 1974 with a 1643 sq m basement.

The property encompasses eight titles, ranging in size from 1264sq m to 2.79 ha, which Vavasour says would give the new owner greater flexibility for a phased development.

Another feature is a big road frontage which would also assist with subdivision and redevelopment.