Dunedin: Future service town to Shell? #realitycheck

We need the business, but…

Shell’s Roland Spuij highlighted that New Zealand’s historical success rate was 15%, compared with a global success rate of more than 30%, and said that the Great South Basin as a ”frontier” area had its pitfalls.

### ODT Online Tue, 9 Apr 2013
Gas drilling ’50:50′ call – Shell
By Simon Hartley
Oil and gas explorer Shell says its chances of undertaking a $200 million exploratory drilling programme in the Great South Basin are 50:50, with a decision expected within months. The company, which has spent more than $80 million in two separate seismic surveys in the basin off Otago in recent years, also confirmed yesterday it had committed a further $US10 million ($NZ11.8 million) to additional exploration of the Great South Basin. The latter work will include more than 2000km of 2-D seismic surveys within a 8500sq km exploration block acquired last December.

Data suggested the test drill had a 70% likelihood of being unsuccessful, with a 30% chance of finding commercially viable gas deposits.

Shell’s New Zealand exploration venture manager Roland Spuij was in Dunedin yesterday for a meeting with mainly local business people, which was abandoned because of interruptions by more than 30 anti-exploration protesters.
Read more

—

Embarrassing!
● Oil protesters shut down Shell meeting

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC sells Athenaeum, 23 The Octagon

Image: ODT Files

Dunedin City Council – Media Release
Historic Athenaeum Building Sold

This item was published on 08 Apr 2013.

The Octagon Athenaeum has been sold in an agreement which provides an opportunity to meet community needs and protect the building’s historic features.

The Dunedin City Council agreed today to accept an offer from Lawrie Forbes, for a purchase price of $900,000. The offer is unconditional, with settlement on 1 May.

Mr Forbes has developed a number of historic buildings in Dunedin and was awarded the 2012 Dunedin City Council Supreme Award for Heritage Re-Use. Mr Forbes plans to earthquake strengthen the building using his company Zeal Steel and develop part of the building for an arts and culture use.

Mr Forbes also plans to place a restrictive covenant on the property title to ensure the heritage elements of the interior and exterior of the building are retained. The covenant is to be agreed between Mr Forbes and the [New Zealand] Historic Places Trust. If agreement cannot be reached on the wording of a suitable covenant within two years, this condition lapses.

Image: ODT Files

Following a December 2012 Council meeting, Colliers International were appointed as agents for the sale of the Athenaeum. A deadline treaty process began in January this year and four offers were received, ranging from $500,000 to $900,000.

Mayor of Dunedin Dave Cull says while Mr Forbes’ offer was the highest, the Council also took into account his plans to meet community needs by protecting the heritage of the building with a covenant and work closely with the arts and cultural sector.

“What makes Lawrie Forbes’ offer so attractive is the strategic alignment it has with the overall vision for the city. It is very much in line with the outcomes envisaged by the Central City Strategy, the Heritage Strategy and Arts and Culture Strategy which is being developed.”

In October 2007, the DCC bought the Athenaeum for $1,130,000, with the possibility of using the building in a large theatre development. The development did not proceed and so the decision was made to sell the property.

The purchase price will leave the DCC with an estimated debt of $100,565, which is unbudgeted and must be repaid in the current financial year. The total cost of owning the building (from 2007 to 2013), once the sale is completed, is $502,302.

On average the holding costs have been $74,000 a year and the sale means the DCC no longer has these ongoing costs, nor the risks associated with owning the property.

● Athenaeum Report (PDF, 4.0 MB)
● Athenaeum minutes extract (PDF, 115 KB)

Contact the Mayor of Dunedin on 477 4000.

DCC Link

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr