Council planning to buy Reading Cinema land to offset earthquake strengthening cost

Wednesday, 4 October 2023

The Wellington City Council is preparing to buy the land under the Reading Cinema building on Courtenay Place.

The Post understands that in a behind-closed-doors meeting this afternoon the council voted 10 to 6 to proceed with due diligence, moving forward the purchase of the land under the earthquake-prone building.

The public-excluded item was described on the agenda of the meeting as a “City Activation” project.

Moving to purchase the land, owned by Reading International, is intended to help it fund earthquake strengthening work. The building shut abruptly in 2019 after its seismic rating fell.

It was not clear how much the council is paying in terms of purchase price, although councillors were clear it was nowhere near as much as the recent Town Hall cost overrun of $147m.

Councillor Tony Randle said he thought residents would be appalled at the decision which was not focused on “core services” at all and was a commercial proposal.

Councillor Ray Chung said he was “not very happy” that the council was doing a commercial deal without telling the public about it and spending money when the finances were dire.

“We shouldn’t be getting involved in this type of thing,” he said.

Mayor Tory Whanau was not happy that information about the public-excluded meeting was leaked, saying it was “getting really boring” and created an environment where the public did not have the full picture of the council’s decision-making.

She would have more detail to share in coming weeks about Courtenay Place, which “undoubtedly” needed the most rejuvenation.

“I will be speaking publicly about where we are up to once we have firm details to share, which is what locals deserve: a good process and the full picture, rather than undermining petty politics.”

Whanau said at the end of last year that the council was in close contact with the building owners to urge Reading to strengthen the building.