‘Potential opportunity’ at south end of town involves Timaru’s Majestic Theatre

Tuesday, 29 April 2025

Timaru’s mayor doesn’t believe the redevelopment of the Theatre Royal is at risk but says another option is on the table and councillors must consider them all.

Four weeks after it was sold, Nigel Bowen confirmed the Timaru District Council had been approached about a “potential opportunity” involving the Majestic Theatre building opposite the Theatre Royal.

Bowen said a “member of the public” had approached the council’s chief executive, Nigel Trainor, to pitch the idea.

The building was part of a row of properties at the south end of Stafford St which was sold by the council’s holdings company to Rooney Holdings Ltd on April 1 for $737,000.

The mayor would not elaborate on the details of the Majestic proposal ahead of the workshop, but said it was important the council kept an open-door policy with any ideas presented.

He compared the new Majestic proposal to another for a multi-use venue made to councillors, by Thompson Construction and Engineering, at a meeting in July.

“The way I would look at it, it’s like with the library project and Thompsons ‒ we need to look at options and think ‘how does that meet the needs of the project for the community?’’’

At that meeting, councillors voted to scrap the $57 million redevelopment plan for the Theatre Royal, and explore alternative options.

Rooney Group property and development manager Phillipa Guerin did not want to comment on any possible redevelopment of the Majestic Theatre when contacted on Monday.

However, The Timaru Herald understood the proposed project would include the redevelopment of the building into a community theatre.

The Theatre Royal redevelopment and Aorangi Stadium projects were back under the microscope as the council looked to keep its spending under control.

The timing of the projects, while council was consulting on a proposed restructure which could result in a net loss of 52 roles, had come in for criticism.

Earlier this month, ratepayer Dr Phil Driver said the council claimed to have made a “hard decision” in cutting roles but questioned how that sat when they kept their own and continued to fund two big $40m “vanity projects”.

On Tuesday, those two projects and a plan to build a new museum in Timaru would be discussed at a public workshop.

Bowen said Tuesday’s workshop would be a chance to get “all elected members up to speed’’ ahead of the council meeting on May 6 when the projects were on the agenda.

While he was not prepared to discuss the new proposal, Bowen said the theatre project was not at risk.

“It’s all coming within budget,’’ he said.

He said the budget was $30m, with the first stage required to come in at $24m. That was signed off in October.

“From everything I have seen, everything we have asked of the CE and the team, it still sits within budget.’’

Bowen said he had also met with former South Canterbury Drama League president Chris Thomas in recent weeks and talked about public fundraising for the theatre project.

He said one option discussed was a “purchase-a-seat’’ fundraiser where community members could pay to have their name on a seat, which would also give people a sense of ownership in the project.

Bowen said he had also been talking with a funder about opportunities across council projects and had also been in discussions about fundraising for the stadium.

There were time lines for both projects and it was important to stick to them, he said.

Former Majestic Theatre owner Gavin List, who was also a member of Majestic Timaru, a group formed in 2024 to save the building, said he was unaware of any proposal for the building.

However, List said the group had put its “feelers’’ out to the building’s new owner to see if it could help in any way.

It was yet to hear back, he said.

“It could be a fantastic place and we could supply memorabilia,’’ he said.

He confirmed Majestic Timaru had tried to buy the building for a peppercorn rate when it was listed for sale by deadline treaty in December.

“We wanted to keep it for Timaru and we don’t want it bulldozed over,” he said.

Former group member and urban designer Nigel Gilkison had drawn up plans for what he thought the theatre could look like, he said.

The council workshop would be open to the public and would start at 3pm.