The final sale of the Oamaru railway station has been delayed, the buyer asking for more time from the Oamaru Whitestone Civic Trust to complete due diligence.
The wooden railway station, designed by George Troup for the NZ Railways, was put on the market by the trust in April because of the maintenance cost and it was no longer in keeping with its property portfolio of historic buildings, which are mainly of Oamaru stone and in the historic Harbour-Tees Sts precinct.
Offers over the station's rateable value of $205,000 were called for and closed on May 23, after which an offer for an undisclosed sum from a New Zealand buyer whose name was kept confidential was conditionally accepted.
The sale was supposed to go unconditional yesterday, but trust chairman Peter Garvan said it had been asked for and granted another 20 working days for due diligence, which included checking factors ranging from lease agreements to legal issues.
The 650sq m station on a 3234sq m site between Humber St and the sea was offered for sale through LJ Hooker and attracted multiple offers.
Completed in 1900, the station is listed as a category 2 building by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust and category B in the Waitaki district plan.
Conditions of the sale included entering a covenant with Heritage NZ for the property, banning any demolition, maintaining the exterior as it was and as a railway station.
Mr Garvan had indicated the prospective buyer had a ''very strong interest in the community'' and retaining the building's authenticity as a railway station.
The buyer had told the trust he wanted, where practicable, to bring the building back to the original floor plan from 1900.
