Reading locked into ten-cinema Wellington deal but 'unlikely' to get built

Thursday, 21 March 2024

The Reading complex in Courtenay Place has been closed since a 2019 structural report.

Reading International has to replace its Courtenay Place complex with 10 new cinemas, Wellington City councillor Tim Brown has confirmed, but he believes the $32 million deal is “unlikely” to eventuate.

Brown, one of the councillors to concoct the $32m council deal, last week said it was “embarrassing” that the council had not considered how the reopened complex would affect the city’s independent cinemas but said Reading may not replace the long-closed cinemas with more of the same.

He was on Tuesday given access to the legal deal with Reading which, he said, showed that Reading had to open 10 cinemas at the site to get the cash. But he believed the chances of Reading actually including 10 cinemas in the complex were “unlikely” — meaning the council deal would be off and redevelopment would be back in the hands of Reading.

Pat Vinaccia owns the Empire Cinema in Island Bay and Ian Macleod owns the Penthouse Cinema in Brooklyn. Both are concerned about the Wellington City Council's $32m Reading deal will do for the city's independent cinemas.

The Post has an official information request in with the council to see the deal but is yet to get it.

Reading’s Courtenay Place complex abruptly closed in 2019 after a structural report and has been shuttered since, creating a dead zone on the entertainment strip that the council has long been trying to fix. One of Mayor Tory Whanau’s first acts in the top job was to meet with Reading’s Los Angeles-based owners to work out a deal.

That deal would see the council pay an initial $6m deposit to Reading, which would have two years to come up with a plan to rebuild the complex to meet council requirements, at which point it would get another $26m meaning the council would own the land and Reading would have to redevelop. Reading would have the right, for a decade, to buy the land back at the original $32m sale price.

Wellington City councillor Tim Brown says Reading is locked into opening 10 cinemas for the council funding.

Reading, which as so far refused all requests for comment, again refused to comment on Wednesday.

Brown, who was last week seeking assurance that the initial $6m was safe and would be returned if Reading did not proceed as agreed, said he now had that assurance, as well as a guarantee that the council would get legal advice on the deal.

That meant that if Reading came back in two years and said 10 cinemas were not possible the council would get its deposit back and Reading would keep ownership of the land.

He believed it was unlikely Reading would leave the site undeveloped as the council was looking at changes to increase rates on “derelict” land.

Councillor Ray Chung, an outspoken critic of the Reading deal, has asked the auditor-general to investigate the deal.

Island Bay Empire owner Pat Vinaccia this week wrote to city councillors calling for the deal to go to another vote and pointing out existing businesses, as ratepayers, should not be paying for the council to subsidise competition.

“It will impact the existing cinemas,” he said on Wednesday.

Penthouse owner Iain Macleod recently argued that “what is good for Americans is also good for locals” while Roxy in Miramar co-owner Valentina Dias said the deal was “incredibly unfair”,

Whanau was asked if any consideration was given to how much the Reading deal would affect existing independent cinemas. While she did not answer that question, in an emailed statement she said the main feedback was that the city centre needed revitalisation.

“We focused on businesses in the area who are impacted by the closure of Reading.

“What Reading offers is quite different to what a lot of our smaller and more suburban cinemas provide. I believe that as a city of film, Wellington can support a multitude of cinema offerings that cater to everyone.”