{"id":306720,"date":"2026-02-28T16:24:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T16:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/306720\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T16:24:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T16:24:16","slug":"far-north-trust-explains-how-7m-plan-to-buy-old-packhouse-market-will-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/306720\/","title":{"rendered":"Far North trust explains how $7m plan to buy Old Packhouse Market will work"},"content":{"rendered":"

Project lead Di Maxwell said about 100 people attended a community meeting to hear the trust\u2019s plans<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really good, a lot of people were interested. <\/p>\n

\u201cTwenty-nine volunteers have stepped up, and donations [of $2500] started flowing in the following day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a long way to $7m, but it\u2019s a good start.\u201d <\/p>\n

Residents took to social media to express their views.<\/p>\n

Some hailed it as a great opportunity to secure the market for generations to come, but many questioned the $7m price, calling it \u201cmadness\u201d and \u201cexcessive\u201d. <\/p>\n

Others questioned why the sale-and-purchase agreement included only the land and buildings, not the businesses. <\/p>\n

Some wondered why the project could not be done cheaper by buying a smaller piece of land or holding the market in a public space or carpark. <\/p>\n

Maxwell said buying another piece of land would require resource consents, solving roading issues, and building the business from scratch. <\/p>\n

\u201cOn that property, there\u2019s almost 6ha of land, two houses and a market. <\/p>\n

\u201cAll the roading has been done, all the initial years of building up the credibility of the business is all done. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe packhouse would then be sold to developers for more housing, and 155 people would lose their livelihoods.\u201d <\/p>\n

Maxwell said the houses on the site were rented, and would continue to be. This would earn trust income to be used for furthering the project. <\/p>\n

\"DiDi Maxwell (left) hopes the community will get behind the community initiative to buy The Old Packhouse Market from Warrick and Judy Hyland. Photo \/ Jenny Ling<\/p>\n

The $7m would not all go to the Hylands. Some would go towards upgrading the main building.<\/p>\n

\u201c… Over $500,000 will be used for refurbishment and upgrading the building, which is essential. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s work that was identified when we got the building report done; for general maintenance, upgrading, and to ensure it lasts for a good long time.\u201d <\/p>\n

The money would be raised through \u201ca comprehensive fundraising plan, donations, grants, events, investment funding, and loans\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to try every aspect.\u201d <\/p>\n

Once the buildings and land were secured, the trust would let the buildings to the Hylands for their businesses. <\/p>\n

Rental earnings would also cover maintenance, insurance, staffing and compliance, Maxwell said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe really appreciate Judy keeping the businesses running until we\u2019re ready to take over. <\/p>\n

\u201cRunning three businesses fulltime with volunteers, we wouldn\u2019t be able to do it. <\/p>\n

\u201cThose businesses will pay market rent back to the landowner [the trust] until such time as we feel ready to take them on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maxwell could not say how much the businesses were expected to cost, who would pay, and whether more fundraising would be required. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t got to that stage yet.\u201d <\/p>\n

Future initiatives for the site included an \u201coutpost project\u201d connecting Far North communities, a small grocery store, a repair workshop, and a learning centre offering workshops about growing food. <\/p>\n

Jenny Ling is a senior journalist at the Northern Advocate. She has a special interest in covering human interest stories, along with finance, roading, and social issues. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Project lead Di Maxwell said about 100 people attended a community meeting to hear the trust\u2019s plans. \u201cIt…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306721,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[112271,3167,1259,33489,37119,528,221,16571,225,37107,111,43,139,529,69,9716,101355,2170,61,21419,90549,9438,1533,4576],"class_list":{"0":"post-306720","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-7m","9":"tag-buy","10":"tag-community","11":"tag-donations","12":"tag-explains","13":"tag-far","14":"tag-how","15":"tag-kerikeri","16":"tag-market","17":"tag-multimilliondollar","18":"tag-new-zealand","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-newzealand","21":"tag-north","22":"tag-nz","23":"tag-old","24":"tag-packhouse","25":"tag-plan","26":"tag-to","27":"tag-towards","28":"tag-trickling","29":"tag-trust","30":"tag-will","31":"tag-work"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}