The Northland Business Development Trust is to sell the business hub it developed last year in the Whangarei CBD and is "considering future directions".
The Trust developed the hub on its second-floor property at 28 Rathbone St aiming to generate income for when Ministry of Social Development funding for business programmes expired late last year; rejig run-down and badly-lit premises and create a facility for the business community.
Prospective rentals along with income from existing training and consultancy services enabled the Trust to secure funding for the $250,000 rebuild, which created seven fully-serviced suites and a seminar room with teleconferencing and other facilities.
Chairman John Williamson said recession conditions had affected take-up of the suites, meaning the Trust needed to sell the property. Only three had been tenanted and one other was used on an occasional basis.
"There is a lot of capital tied up in the building and we need to determine the future of the Trust," he said.
"We planned to have a range of services operating out of The Hub and this is working to some extent but not to the extent we wanted it to. We may well be part of the property in future as a tenant but a decision on that has yet to be made."
He said the Trust had created a compact, very functional and up-to-date facility for a group of five to ten people which was a valuable contribution to the CBD and a far more saleable prospect than it would have been before renovation.
"We are very happy with the decision to renovate and revamp and believe that selling is an opportunity to redetermine the future of the Trust."
General manager Calvin Green said the model had not failed. "The demand is still there but one of the first things people drop when times get hard is the business assistance and training they actually need. They just can't afford it." The NBDT (motto "Start Right, Grow, Succeed") was set up over 20 years ago to help provide business training for people starting and running small to medium-sized businesses. One of its first clients was Malcolm Rand of Tutukaka, who went on to develop EcoStore.
The company's natural cleaning and personal products are now sold in supermarkets around New Zealand, Australia, the United States and Asia.
Opening The Hub last June, Whangarei MP and Cabinet minister Phil Heatley said the NBDT had helped thousands of people. Small to medium businesses were crucial to providing work and "paid the country's bills". "The work of the Trust has boosted the economic health of Northland and regardless of any doom and gloom people are still coming in the door looking for business training and opportunities and advice," he said.
Pete Collier of Colliers International Whangarei says there has been considerable interest in the property.