Council wants to buy land to fund Reading ‘eyesore’

Thursday, 5 October 2023

The purchase of land under the Reading Cinema building was the subject of a secret meeting in Wellington yesterday afternoon.

The City Councilheld the meeting to discuss a “City Activation project”, voting 10 to 5 to exclude the public from the discussion.

The Post understands that the meeting was about purchasing the land under the prominent Reading Cinemas complex on Courtenay Place, also known as Courtenay Central.

The council plans to purchase the land from Reading International, in order to fund the required seismic strengthening work and encourage the complex to reopen.

The building has been criticised as a dead spot and a “blight” on the city, among other empty buildings like the Amora Hotel. Courtenay Central was suddenly declared earthquake prone and evacuated in 2019 after serious concerns were raised in a seismic assessment.

It’s not clear what purchase price is being considered or when the deal is likely to go through. The papers for the meeting said public information would be officially released on November 30.

Reading International owns 1.4 hectares of inner-city land around the complex, including a large carpark. The extent of the council’s planned purchase has not been confirmed.

Mayor Tory Whanau said she believed the council needed to take a “bold approach” to rejuvenate areas of the city including Courtenay Place.

“We have been working away at just that and I hope to have more detail in the coming weeks regarding the Courtenay Precinct, which undoubtedly is the area that most requires action.

“We cannot make any comment about the specifics but want to be clear that any proposed decision is fiscally prudent and driven by huge benefit to the city centre.”

Councillor Ray Chung questioned whether the council should be getting involved in this type of commercial deal saying it was a ”nicety”.

Iona Pannett said the Reading Cinemas building was an “eyesore” and there was a strong need to revitalise the central city, but she had questions about giving money to a foreign company. Owners of other earthquake-prone buildings in the city would have potentially greater need for support, she said.

John Apanowicz said getting the city’s empty buildings –including Courtenay Central, the Amora Hotel, and the Civic Square precinct – back into use was one of his key priorities as a councillor.

On X, formerly known as Twitter, Tony Randle said he believed residents would be “incandescent” if they knew the details of the deal. Councillors voted 10 to 6 to move ahead, he said.

He would prefer that the council focus on fixing what’s broken, and did not see the deal as core to the function of the city.

As the council voted to exclude the public, Whanau said she supported the discussions being kept private because of “the complicated and sensitive nature of the deal”.

Councillor Nicola Young said she was concerned the council was losing “all credibility” because of increasing budgets on projects such as the Town Hall strengthening.

“We have to be open and transparent because otherwise people will think we are a bunch of … there are various words I could use.”

The leaked information about the meeting ruffled some feathers. Whanau put out a statement saying it was “getting really boring” that some councillors were talking to the media about confidential meetings.

“It creates an environment where the public does not have the full picture and lose faith in our processes and decision making.”

She would make a public announcement once there were firm details to share.

The Post understands thecouncil voted to proceed with due diligence on the purchase.

How they voted on excluding the public from the Reading Cinemas discussion:

For: Tory Whanau, Nureddin Abdurahman, John Apanowicz, Tim Brown, Ray Chung, Laurie Foon, Rebecca Matthews, Ben McNulty, Teri O’Neill, Tamatha Paul.

Against: Diane Calvert, Sarah Free, Iona Pannett, Tony Randle, Nicola Young.