NOBADY WANTS A CIVIC-CENTRE SITE

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 191, 2 November 1927, Page 1

NOBADY WANTS A CIVIC-CENTRE SITE

AUCTION held to-day

all lots withdrawn N o =t «ll the oratory and word-p.c-N .of the auctioneer could rouse Z' BStolidity 8 Stolidity of the 300 persons aret^nt. , , vfter lot was withdrawn after had gone spiritlessly up obviously below the values gentlemen, what do you demanded the desperate aucshouted a bidder from ..freeno • the concert chamber. ** civ°c Centre, playground of 8“ „I, open for private negotiait is stated that Australian “"'southern buyers are interested, urf the bidders were representM A S ,Uland operators. The auction--113 Mr. H. G. Palethorpe. of f r _„ei Vaile and Sons. right offered to-day at auction * h * /gfy ear lease, rent being fixed in v^rlyperiods at 5 per cent, of the the land, to be fixed by nation. Bids were taken on the •T oTthe annual rental. bidding begins Ctvk A, almost a complete acre, of- . a whole was withdrawn at > * „ Bidding began at £3,000 and ,'rnted to £4.000, to £5,000, dragging AoOO. £6,500, £7,000 beS which the auctioneer could not Sues a bid. So it was withdrawn. The next section, the corner of Queen Ja Wellesley Streets, three-eighths of acre "the mouthpiece of all Auckna the auctioneer designated it, then offered. Bidding began at £1 500, going up to £2,000, £2,500, £0 750 £3,000, £3,250. Then it iieed and "the hub. the eye and the very heart and centre of all Auckland” was also withdrawn. Then lot five, with frontages of 521 It to Queen Street and G9ft lljin to Wellesley Street, was offered. Bids came .lowly, £I.OOO, 1.100. £1,200, £1,250, £llOO. The oratory of the auctioneer jailed him and the lot was withdrawn amid some levity from the spectators. LOTS WITHDRAWN Lots t, 3 or 4 to Fergusson Street, were withdrawn after bids of £ 500 and £550 Lot 1. the corner of Myers and Queen Streets, drew bids rising £SOO, £ gOO, £7OO. £750, and was there withdrawn. Lot 6. at the corner of Fergusson Street and Wellesley Street, drew offers of £ 500, £ 550 and £ 575, but it also was withdrawn. Lot 7, with a frontage to Fergusson Street, wts not sought and was withdrawn at £375. Similar fate awaited lot 9, at the corner of Myers Fergusson Streets; t! raised no. greater enthusiasm than £550. Moving over to Block B, bounded by Albert Street. Wellesley Street, Fergueson Street and Myers Street, the (auctioneer offered lot 16, the Myers and Fergusson Street comer. Bids pan £230, £3OO. £325 and the property |was withdrawn also. Lot 17, a Ferjsusson Street frontage, was withdrawn [at £l5O, lot 19, a Wellesley and Albert Street corner, at £175. and lot 18, with a frontage to Albert Street, drew no bids at all. Block C raised no enthusiasm, a long frontage to Fergusson Street drawing • bid of £125. The final offering was lot 12, with the Myers, Fergusson, Queen Street frontages. Bidding ran £SOO, £650. £7OO. £750, £BOO, £BSO More the section was also withdrawn ana the gale of Civic Centre; lapsed for utter 'vant of enthusiasm.