Auckland waterfront stadium projected cost rises to $2.4 billion

Wednesday, 25 September 2019

The Auckland Waterfront Consortium has launched an ambitious proposal that would see a 50,000-seat fully enclosed stadium built alongside a redeveloped Bledisloe Wharf.

Private sector promoters of a proposed waterfront stadium in Auckland say the estimated cost has jumped 30 per cent to $2.4 billion, but insist it's still viable.

The Auckland Waterfront Consortium (AWC) said it had now included major civil works such as new sea-walls into the budget, and potential overseas backers remain interested.

The year-old plan appears to be at a standstill, with the promoters awaiting council commitment to a feasibility study, while the mayor said the consortium should pay for it itself.

AWC's chair Dave Wigmore said they needed the council to take part in the study, not pay for it, and they hoped to resume that conversation in the new year.

At artist's Impression of views from the proposed Auckland Waterfront Stadium, now called 'The Crater'.

* Auckland Mayor Phil Goff needs to get off the stadium fence

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Dave Wigmore, chairman of the private sector, Auckland Waterfront Consortium, said members wanted clarity on council backing.

* There's no such thing as a free stadium, however iconic its design**

The consortium proposes a stadium of up to 70,000 seats, partly on the seabed at the northwest corner of Bledisloe Wharf.

It would build the stadium in exchange for development rights on adjacent council-owned port land and the site of Eden Park stadium.

Breaking a stalemate over a feasibility study is the next step.

'What's clear to us is without a council mandate to get on with feasibility, our ability to raise money is quite difficult, but with that mandate we can get that funded,' Wigmore told Stuff.

'One conversation we have had with a sovereign wealth fund is, until we have got that political issue resolved with a degree of certainty, there is no point in having a further conversation,' he said.

'However they remain interested.'

The Auckland Waterfront Consortium has branded the venue 'The Crater', reflecting the design in which the lower levels would be below sea level in Waitemata harbour.

The consortium took out a full-page newspaper advertisement urging voters in the local body election to get a view from councillors and candidates at the weekend.

Mayor Phil Goff and his challenger John Tamihere remained open but ambivalent about the stadium plan when Stuff spoke to them on Monday.

'I think it's a wonderful idea, but ahead of its time,' said Tamihere, who if elected said he wouldn't consider it in his first term.

Goff has public remained lukewarm on the idea, not wanting to close the door on the proposal, but has pressing ahead with studies on other port-related uses for the same part of Bledisloe Wharf.

Goff insisted the next step lay with the consortium.

Wigmore said the consortium needed the 20 councillors to form a view on the plans after October's election.

'We don't mind what it is as long as there's clarity,' he said.

The future of stadia in Auckland remains unclear, with a council strategy making slow progress and the council putting a mix of loans and grants worth $63 million into Eden Park to ensure essential maintenance secures its medium term future.

The big ticket item is whether Eden Park undergoes another major rebuild in 10-15 years, or is replaced by a brand new stadium either downtown or on the waterfront.