BIG CITY BLOCK

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2395, 26 February 1915, Page 3

BIG CITY BLOCK

TO BE RE-LEASED. In view of' 'tie early expiry of the leaseholds comprised iu the Wellington College, endowment reserve, that valuable five-acre City block that extends from Lorno Street and 10 Vivian Street and is'• divided by College Street —a complete revaluation is at present being made on behalf of the College Governors by ..Mr. George Frost. There are, 52. sections in : all, most of them occupied by dwellings, and though the depth of each section: is 106 ft., no two properties are exactly alike. The properties will, in all probability be offered on the basis of a' lease of 21 years, with a compulsory building clause, which,' as the block is now in the brick area, will mean the erection within the •next few year£ of a colony of substantial buildings,- better able to withstand the ravages of time than the wooden structures that • at. present exist, and which have in some cases been allowed ,to fall into disrepair. It is interesting to recall that when .this big. block was originally, vested in the College Governors some 42 years ago, it was clear land with no intersecting street. _ The whole live acres were leased'originally to the Wellington I/and and_ Building Company at a Tental of £125 per &■».- num, and the right of renewal for a further term of 21 years at an increase of 50 per cent, iiy the annual rental. In 1888 the company went into liquidation, and the lease was taken over by the. Equitable Building and Investment Company, .which has Been the landlord over since. The whole of this property will revert to the College Governors by March 30, 1916, hence the preparations that are now being made to re-lease the properties comprised in the area. The block consists of all the land bounded by Vivian, College, and Tory Streets and Cambridge Terrace, and on the northern side of College Street, the wholo of. the properties fronting that street, and in addition those fronting Tory Street as far as Lorne Street, and half way along that street. This area ir.ohides the old Princess Theatre (now Thompson and Lewis's cordial factory), and the l'rihccs6 Theatre Hotel.