Ten ‘genuine prospects’ for future of Hastings Tudor-style villa

The house on Southland Rd in Hastings, which is being given away for free by developers. Photo / Warren Buckland

Following a deluge of enquiries, 10 possibilities have been identified for the future of a Tudor-style villa in Hastings.

Developers TW Property are in the process of applying for a resource consent from Hastings District Council to subdivide 711 Southland Rd to create 10 two-bedroom residential units and a shared access area on behalf of the owner.

They have offered on behalf of the owner to give away a two-storey villa, built in 1910, which currently sits on the section to anyone able to remove and renovate it, and put $50,000 towards the cost of removal themselves, as that is what it would cost to remove the house anyway.

Simon Tremain, a director of TW Property, said they had received a lot of enquiries about the building, from which they had identified 10 “genuine prospects”.

He said they were working to organise viewings of the interior of the building with the interested parties and hoped to decide by late next week who would take the property.

One of the interested parties identified as a genuine prospect told TW Property that she used to live on Market St in Hastings and the house was a part of her memory.

Tremain said the woman wanted to remain anonymous, but in her query to TW Property, she said she was supportive of the development of the property to fulfil the need for more housing in New Zealand, but she did not want to see the house demolished and her family would like to have the house once the resource consent was approved.

“We have a rural section in Wairarapa more or less ready to go. We are currently working with heritage house specialists on another project. It would be amazing if we can have this house for a restoration project later on,” she said in her message to TW Property.

“[I] would love to work with you to ensure that the locals are happy that our heritage building will be in good hands.”

A Hastings District Council spokesperson told Hawke’s Bay Today earlier this week that the villa was once on the Heritage NZ Register as a heritage item in the council’s district plan.

In 2013, it was deregistered because there was insufficient information to keep it on the list.

It was then removed as a heritage item in the Hastings District Council’s district plan after a request from the property owner.

The resource consent application for the development was received by Hastings District Council on March 14 and was in the early stages of being assessed earlier this week.