- Richmond Park School in Bader, closed since 2005, is for sale for over $1m.
- The 9400sqm site, contaminated with asbestos, offers a development opportunity but requires significant work.
- Interest has come from community groups and developers, despite challenges like asbestos and wastewater restrictions.
An empty Hamilton school tainted by asbestos has hit the market – and agents are looking for a buyer with over $1 million to spend.
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Richmond Park School, in Bader, closed its doors in 2005 because of a dwindling student roll. Now 21 years later, part of the vacant site, comprising the main classroom block, the library building and a sad-looking swimming pool, is up for grabs.
The 9400sqm site, which has been pitched as a development opportunity, was deemed surplus to education needs three years ago.
The property has cost taxpayers around $80,000 a year, including rates, utilities, security and grounds maintenance.
The original school has been subdivided into three separate titles. Photo / Supplied
The Ministry of Education is keeping a 4422sqm slice of the land and some buildings and will continue to lease it to Te Kōhanga Reo National Trust (TKRN) to run a Māori-language immersion early childhood education centre.
The Department of Conservation also wants to retain an 8079sqm block that served as the school’s playing fields to help safeguard the city’s rare and endangered long‑tailed bat.
Jerome Sheppard, the chief executive for school property at the Ministry of Education, said it had taken time to complete the subdivision work.
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He told OneRoof that the 9400sqm site listed for sale had first been offered to Waikato Tainui, which decided to pass on the property.
Colliers agent Alan Pracy, who is marketing 66 Bader Street, said the site’s value lay in the land rather than the boarded-up buildings, which were contaminated with asbestos. A building survey provided to the Ministry for the Environment in 2018 identified asbestos throughout the structures and assessed the risk as low to medium.
“Somebody is more likely to start from fresh given the asbestos there and what they are,” Pracy told OneRoof.
Negotiations with the Department of Conservation over a section of the school's land for the protection of the long-tailed bat contributed to delays in selling. Photo / DoC
The old concrete swimming pool was also empty and “had seen better days”.
The main interest so far had been from community groups looking to rebuild on the site. There had also been limited interest from developers looking to build affordable housing when the current wastewater restrictions were lifted, he said.
“There’s been a reasonable level of interest for something a little bit unusual,” he said, adding it was the first school he had sold in his 26 years in the industry.
“We don’t see a lot of blocks that size. They tend to be chopped up smaller over the years, so it is pretty unusual.”
- 66 Bader Street, Bader, Hamilton, is for sale, deadline closing May 27
