Former hospital land set for sale

The seven-lot subdivision on the old Greytown Hospital site should be up for sale by early next month.

Lower Hutt developer Rudy van Baarle of Molesworth Homes began work on the site in December after gaining resource consent from South Wairarapa District Council in June to divide the East St land and buildings into seven parcels for sale.

The 1.5-hectare property, site of the original Wairarapa Hospital, was put on the market in 2011, the second time it has been on the market since the hospital was closed in 1997.

Mr van Baarle said the work should be completed by the end of this month. "It's going wonderfully. All the work is 50 per cent complete and it's expected to be 100 per cent by the end of February."

Partial demolition of the site, to create individual land and buildings, was carried out. "[We] have demolished all the links and unnecessary buildings.

"Demolition has been completed and services are being restored," Mr van Baarle said.

Work to remove asbestos in the buildings, a condition of the resource consent, is ongoing.

Mr van Baarle said removal of asbestos would also be completed this month.

Once completed it would be signed off by an independent specialist and approved by the council.

He said a marketing campaign for sales would start in early March and the properties would be for sale from $190,000.

"We've priced them extremely attractively to get the ball rolling and get buyers in," he said.

The lots range from a quarter of an acre to three-quarters of an acre.

Mr van Baarle said it was up to buyers what they did with the existing buildings, and that the buildings could be demolished at the buyers' request.

"They're still in their original state, they've been left to new buyers to renovate.

"There's no restriction on removing any of the buildings and just having the land."

Mr van Baarle said the project had cost "lots of money bringing it to the market but that was expected. Everyone's looking forward to bringing this to market ... and finally completing this long-standing project."

South Wairarapa District Council group manager infrastructure and services, Mark Allingham, said it was the contractor's responsibility to remove all asbestos on the site.

"It's a hazardous material so it has to be done very carefully."

Mr Allingham said he was glad the extra land was being utilised.

"It will be excellent to have a new development at that end of town," he said.