New Plymouth ratepayers might have to pay the Catholic Church nearly $2 million for a Bell Block section for which they have paid just $37 in rent since 1984.
The Wynyard St section, which is occupied by pensioners in nine separate flats and has been independently valued at $1.95 million, has been rented by the New Plymouth District Council for just $1 annually since the church signed a 40-year lease in 1984.
With the lease about to expire, the council approached the church about the land’s future.
Instead of carrying on the lease for the council-built flats, the church offered a land swap – Wynyard St for the Powderham St car park opposite its New Plymouth cathedral – with $250,000 added on. Read more