Inside the meeting: Auckland Council stumps up for St James theatre but not all the players are happy

Sunday, 2 March 2025

If Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown had his way, the historic St James Theatre would be demolished, but instead his council is chipping in $15 million for its restoration.

Brown didn’t mince his words this week as he seemingly encouraged councillors to vote down his own motion to commit to funding.

“It’s such a shithole in the city you’d have to bend over backwards to get [anyone else] to build something there.”

However, the council had already legally committed to the funding in an agreement struck in 2016 under then-mayor Len Brown. The agreement also unlocked a further $15m from the Government.

“I would never have voted to get into this … this is a situation where we are just trying to get out of a bad situation,” said Wayne Brown.

He showed councillors photos he’d taken of the theatre interior, revealing that the floor was gone, leaving bare earth.

“That’s Gaza, and here’s where the Israeli bomb just hit,” said Brown to a chorus of “point of order!”

Councillor Angela Dalton turned to media and said, “Just when you thought this couldn’t get any lower.”

However, Councillor Wayne Walker made an impassioned speech about how saved heritage structures, including the town hall where the debate was held, had become “the soul” of the city.

Said Brown: “[St James] has gone from the soul of the city to the arsehole of the city.”

Councillor Maurice Williamson was also firmly opposed to restoration, telling councillors there was already a glut of theatre seats in the city.

“I know I’m like a pork chop in a synagogue here - you guys all don’t agree with me - but I’m really concerned about this.

“We’ve got a massive eyesore at the bottom of the city called Seascape … will we end up having to come in and build that as well? Seriously, think about it.”

He questioned council-funded private development.

“The arts, culture and heritage community in this city are absolutely loaded with dough. The people I meet at functions have more money than I’ve ever seen in my lifetime, so if this is so important why have some of them not stumped up?

“There’s a school in Flat Bush that doesn’t even have a footpath in front of it. Is this where you would spend $15m first?”

Similarly, Councillor Lotu Fuli found the high figure unpalatable.

“For the last two months I’ve been virtually begging staff to find a measly $200,000 to get Ngāti Ōtara marae across the line in my area … When I compare that to this, it does make my stomach turn a little bit.”

But, Councillor Darby called it a “classic piece of cultural infrastructure”.

“I remember seeing Split Enz before anyone knew Split Enz,” he said.

“People used to rush to the city centre, because it had thriving places … but, of course His Majesty’s Theatre disappeared overnight with a developer’s wrecking ball.”

“Tragic,” added Walker.

It was Brown’s engineering consultancy that demolished His Majesty’s back in 1988.

“I almost broke into a cheer then,” said Brown.

Meanwhile, Councillor Julie Fairey said the theatre’s poor state had made that part of Queen Street “terrible” and she had been concerned about her children catching the bus outside the theatre at night.

She said pulling funding now would only create more uncertainty, and Auckland had been lacking a mid-sized music venue since the closure of the Kings Arms.

“It’s not gold-plated, I believe the approach is called a grunge theatre.”

Councillors Mike Lee and John Watson both said they hoped to see a restoration of the original 1930s tower that sat atop the St James.

But, Brown said rebuilding it would be “nuts”.

“The heritage tower removed itself by gravity some time ago … all that’s left there is the ugly old rusting steel crap supporting [the remainder].”

However, theatre owner Steve Bielby, who quietly attended the meeting, said the mayor’s comments were “a bit misconceived”.

“The top didn’t fall off, the conical roof was taken off in the 1950s when the Queen came because the style of architecture had changed.”

He said that behind the hoardings, the original Victorian façade was essentially still intact.

For Bielby, the restoration has been a 10-year journey. It had been set to go ahead in 2016 when it included a 309-apartment development fronting onto Queen Street, but it was stalled when a financier suddenly pulled out.

Bielby uncoupled the two projects so that the theatre could be progressed solely on its own merit. He said he was thoroughly relieved that the council vote had gone his way.

“This was a heritage budget for a heritage building. It’s an added bonus that it’s an arts institution or a theatre and I think it’s a really good use of public funds that captures government and private contribution.”

“I’m certainly going to have a beer and good night’s sleep tonight.”

Yet, the mayor and some of the councillors may still lose sleep over it.

Said Brown: “Mate, when you see it… The chances of this working out financially are mmm…”

Several around the council table expressed concern about what would happen if the project fell over due to costly complications.

Council’s heritage manager Noel Reardon said the council had first mortgage over the property, which would mean it could ultimately end up owning the theatre.

“I know that won’t fill you with confidence,” he said to Brown.

The mayor responded that as much as he disliked the project, he would be visiting it monthly to keep an eye on the “deeply tricky engineering”.

“If it all goes pear-shaped we will knock the whole thing down, and get a whole lot more than $15m for it.”

Brown closed the meeting by banging a wooden hammer he had brought for the occasion, telling media: “Get out!”

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