Invercargill City councillors appear to favour demolishing the five run-down, vandalised buildings behind Wachner Place as the costs of repairing them in their current run-down state are significant. 

Property Manager Paul Horner presented the Esk Street West report to the Infrastructural Services Committee yesterday (June 15), which considered whether to retain or demolish the buildings.

The council-owned buildings at 6-18 Esk Street West are being retained as the proposed location of the future Arts and Creativity Invercargill (ACI). The properties were purchased between November 2011 and February 2012 for $2,354,000 and they have a current total Capital Valuation of $1,014,000 and Land Valuation of $539,000. The total land area is 1989m2.

According to the report, the buildings are all empty, in "various stages of decay" and are being broken into, trashed, and slept in by vandals. 

Infrastructural and Services Committee chairman Cr Ian Pottinger said he had visited the site and described the decrepit buildings as looking like a scene from the movie 'Alien', with moss growing up the walls and the broken windows boarded up with plywood. 

Mr Horner's report says the council’s insurers are demanding that steps be taken to address insurance risks by installing intruder and fire alarms and having nightly security patrols and weekly inspections. 

The current cost of insurance is $6811 per year and the cost of getting the buildings up to satisfactory standard for insurers could be as much as a one-off cost of $100,000 and annual cost of $75,000.

A report to the Finance and Policy Committee in April 2017 found that the roof structures are also unsafe due to deterioration in parts of the roof caused by leaking over several years.The cost to replace them could be up to $100,000. 

The other option would be to demolish the buildings, save on maintenance and insurance costs and clear the site for its expected future use, which would happen anyway when the ACI is built.

Cr Nigel Skelt said knocking the buildings down was the obvious choice as retaining the buildings with the associated costs involved just "doesn't make business sense".

Cr Alex Crackett agreed, saying the decision to demolish would be a "no brainer".

A report to the Finance and Policy Committee on April 4, 2017 recommended that the buildings had become unsafe and needed to be demolished. At the time demolition was estimated to cost $1.2 million. 

An updated report on the demolition cost and risks involved will be provided by the Project Manager Report, which is expected to be completed by August 2020. When that is complete, councillors will be able to decide whether to proceed with demolition.