The land and buildings at 62 Aldwins Road in Phillipstown housed what was the 145-unit Parkwood Rest Home – operated by Bupa Care Services. The business premises suffered structural damage as a result of the ‘quake.

It remained in an operational state until 2017 when it was eventually closed and residents rehoused around Canterbury.

The property was purchased vacant in 2018 by a privately-owned Wellington-based property development firm, which has spent the intervening 15 months strengthening and refurbishing the two storey/multi-winged premises.

Now the 8,241 square metre freehold land and 4,050 square metres of buildings have been placed on the market for sale by tender through Bayleys Canterbury, with tenders closing at 1pm on September 26.

Bayleys Canterbury salespeople Kate Mullins and Angela Webb said the property was being sold as a ‘turn-key’ accommodation services business location – with the most likely use seeing the return to an aged care rest home facility by one of New Zealand’s private amenity operators.

The land at 62 Aldwins Road is zoned residential suburban density transition zone under the Christchurch City Council plan – allowing for low to medium density residential dwellings.

“Everything is in place for the property to re-open as a ‘new’ aged care centre – handily located on the city centre-fringe and within a short distance of retail and social amenities - such as Eastgate Shopping Centre. In addition to the structural strengthening work, the more visual refurbishment of the facility has seen new carpet laid throughout, along with a completely repainting of the interior,” Ms Mullins said.

“Much of the commercial kitchen cooking equipment, stainless steel benching, and walk-in chiller/refrigeration units have remained in a dormant state over the past 15 months, so may need to be recommissioned to get them back into a functioning state.

“Outside, the considerable street frontage onto Aldwins Road would allow any new owner of the site to install high-profile naming-rights signage at the front of the location.”

Ms Mullins said the property and its array of room configurations would also appeal as a commercially-run short-term accommodation format, for utilisation as social housing backed by the likes of community or religion-based groups, further developing into a private day-care or short-stay hospital facility, or for student accommodation run on a halls of residence model.

The renovated Parkwood Rest Home buildings have retained all of their communal guest amenity and staff-support rooms, including:

• The reception foyer and adjoining administration offices

• A large open-plan high-stud entertainment hall with adjoining kitchenette and hair salon/beauty room

• A dining room serviced by a large commercial-grade kitchen and servery area

• A laundry room with linen storage and cleaning equipment space

• Nurses stations with bathroom facilities and

• A staffroom.

The property is entered through a high covered portico facing onto Aldwins Road, with a second less formal entrance at the rear of the building off Randolph Street for use by staff and service or goods supply vehicles.

The vacant complex has parking space for some 50 vehicles off the Aldwins Road driveway, with 25 additional car parking spaces is available at the rear of the site. The property has a 67 percent of new building standards (NBS) rating.

Ms Mullins said the upper level of the rectangular-shaped complex was accessed by an over-sized lift capable of accommodating wheelchairs and hospital gurneys, with additional stairwell access. With two new bedrooms added as part of the redevelopment works, the upper level of the facility now contains 80-bedroom suites, with the lower level housing 67 guest rooms and the communal spaces.

“Most of the bedrooms have their own self-contained ensuite bathrooms. Some of the upper suites have balconies, while others have flower boxes. At ground level, the inner-courtyards have recently been re-landscaped and now feature low-maintenance garden areas with bench seating around trees and shrubs, with paved paths running between the various blocks,” she said.

Ms Webb said the move to running the property as a social housing location was supported by a report compiled by The Salvation Army in 2017 which noted that Christchurch would need 180 new social housing units a year for the next 10 years to meet forecast demand.