Submissions to date oppose application to demolish Whanganui heritage building

With a week until submissions close, five objections have been made to an application for resource consent to demolish the Thain's building at 1 Victoria Ave.

The building on the corner of Victoria Ave and Taupo Quay is owned by Karantze Holdings, a family company whose partners live in Napier. The owners say they have applied for resource consent to improve their chances of selling the building to someone who wants to develop the site.

It is a Class B heritage building in the Whanganui District Plan but has no national heritage status. The three-storey unreinforced masonry building is severely earthquake-prone at 5 per cent of new building standard (NBS) and the ground floor was flooded in the June 2015 floods. The cost of seismic strengthening has been estimated at more than $1 million.

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A Whanganui District Council spokeswoman said all five submissions received to date opposed the application. Submissions close on Tuesday, May 22.

Details about the consent application are available at the Whanganui District Council offices and on its website www.whanganui.govt.nz.