Fire engulfed the Forum building in Blenheim’s CBD on Waitangi Day last year.
A year after the devastating fire which tore through the Forum building in Blenheim s CBD on Waitangi Day, most of those affected have “risen from the ashes” and are doing better than ever. Building owner Toni Gillan this week praised the tenants and others involved in the long recovery. “This was probably one of the biggest fires in the CBD in a long time, and the costs are probably close to $1.5 million,” she said. “The tenants have been amazing. They’ve had to put up with so much. They had a fire, then they had Covid, and then because of Covid we weren’t able to get in there and remediate as quick as we could have.”
Scott Hammond/Stuff
The car park on High St, out the back of Farmers, lost spaces when the Quays Riverside Park was developed. Council chief executive Mark Wheeler said details of the agreement with Kirk Roberts Consulting were confidential at this stage, but assured neighbours and the wider public would be consulted before anything happened. “We have got a confidential agreement with the possible developers and it is quite common because they put a lot of money in to investigate sites, so they don t want to show their hand to other competitors. “They also don t want council to sell the land they are looking at before having a chance to properly investigate and negotiate with us about a purchase.