STREET WIDENING

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 305, 13 September 1918, Page 7

STREET WIDENING

BIG WORK PRACTICALLY COMPLETED IN WILLIS STREET THE "DUKE" SETTLEMENT The settlement bv the Compensation. £ourk-of the amount to bo paid by the Wellington City .Corporation for the netting back 10ft. of the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel on its \Villis Street frontage concludes tho biggest city street■widening work ever accomplished in Wellington, possibly .in New Zealand. In the process, which has taken about fifteen years .to accomplish '(what remains to be done in the way of actual setting back represents very Jittlo xwork), the City' Council has-had to acquire several, properties, all of wmel) liave turned out fairly well, aud must be held to be extremely valuable with the accretion in value of. Willis Street property within the last decade. Ihe properties of •which the corporation holds tho fee simple'are the ■King's'Cham-, bers, tho row of brick shops immediately to the north of Chew's Lane, tho .Windsor Hotel, and the shop blocks occupied by Mr. Edwin Arnold'and Mr. ¥. J. 'W. Fear on the same.side of the thoroughfare. Other than, the Diike bf-.Edinburgh, tho properties which still extend out to.the old street alignment aro comprised in that block, of .wooden shops occupied by Messrs. Walter Smart, pawnbroker; Mr. Edwin Arnold, basketmaker; Mr. ¥. J. W.-Fear, machinist; and Mr. 0. G. Sherwood, watchmaker and jeweller. In tne case of. Mr. Smart, an arrangement has-'been made with hira-.to give. -up a ten-foot. strip in exchange for a piece of land the corporation was-able to give him. at the back, thereby\ considerably improving the contour of his section. An arrangement has • been como to also.'with Mr. C. G. Sherwood, ion equitable terms, and the properties occupied by Messrs. Arnold and Fear are still in' the corporation's hands, | but an option t<v purchase is held by a "Wellington resident,, conditional," of course, on -the jieiv building being set buck to the new alignment.. The. council would have acted in regard'.'to the set-' ting back of these properties years ago tut for 'certain, difficulties/presented in ,tlie case of 'the" Duke or Edinburgh Hotel block. Now that a long-delayed settlement has, been arrived at,: it is ■understood that the corporation will. within the .new few months arrange for the setting back of-rill.the. premises, named as still protruding to the old alignment. . . i . ' "' For tho information of the ratepayers— who 'are immediately concernedit should be made quite clear that the .amount awarded the • owner's of tho ; Djike of' Edinburgh Hotel for the 10ft. ' strip required on tho -Willis Street side, .the shifting, disturbance- of business, and reconsti«iction of front, viz., £4650, -covers the whole of the- City Corporation's liability. ..except.'.that, it will ho tho latter's; work to attend to., the demolition of that part < of the, ■building extending.over.the 10ft; stripj of: land mentioned. ", /: . , .■ .It is interesting' to' recall that only a fov years ago the City Corporation was. offered the; whole of the; two acres bordered by •"Willis .-Street,'-'Manners.i Street,, and .Customhouse Quay, and all buildings .tliereon (including the I hotel license), for •■'and though the i council Was advised strongly by-the City Valuer (Mr. James. Ames) to buy, the offer was refuse"d.;A''syn'dicate._then purchased the big estate, and within a few months : made a 'five-figure profit.' Later on the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel (wit'i the license), and the Britannia Theatre in Manners Street, were offered to the council for £36,000: and again the corporation.was urged: to;-purchaso tlie property,', but would not purchase. Now the city' has.to. pay £5000. (including thb ■approximate-cost of demolition) for ten .feet ofthe landonjy, roughly, a seventh of the cost at which nn .exceedingly valuablo city property rould have, been purchased (even if it were only to soil, again after the alteratiojs .m'.alignineut'wei-e inade)..