Sell Christchurch’s temporary stadium site and pay down debt, says Mike Yardley

Tuesday, 14 April 2026

There’s a wide range of views on what should be done with the stadium site in Addington.

Mike Yardley is a Christchurch-based writer and commentator on current affairs, and a regular opinion contributor.

OPINION: Can the Christchurch City Council find it within themselves to stop behaving like a pack of possessive hoarders?

The mere whiff of a suggestion that the council divests itself of some property, to repay debt and depressurise rates, is perversely decoded by some as a declaration of war.

Just a month ago, the elected council coughed up the opportunity to free up $50 million by selling the Lichfield St car park. Despite its hopeless rate of return, the prospect of slapping a “for sale” sign on a car park building was too much to bear for the majority of councillors, who voted 10-6 in favour of retention.

I fear we could see an action replay regarding Apollo Projects Stadium.

Is the council going to look this gift horse in the mouth as well? Despite repeated delays, the options report on the future of the Addington stadium site is now being formulated by council staff.

With One New Zealand Stadium just days from commencing full operations, final decisions on the disposal of the Addington site should have been put to bed months ago. It’s unquestionably surplus to requirements.

But there are already ample signs that sentiments are worryingly polarised on whether the council should sell the site.

Cr Melanie Coker tells me her online canvassing has triggered “a huge range of suggestions. This goes from giving the land back to Canterbury Rugby League (CRL), or for other sports-related uses, to creating a neighbourhood park or food forest, putting in carparks, or selling it off to allow for building housing or a new shopping complex.”

The area is not devoid of recreational parks. Addington Park is 400 metres away across the other side of Lincoln Rd, while the immensity of Hagley Park looms just 1km away.

Meanwhile, Cr Andrei Moore has deep rugby league connections and would “love to see” rugby league games return there. He’s adamant that any sale of the site must “benefit grassroots rugby league”. And he wants to see further investment in CRL’s existing facilities at Ngā Puna Wai.

To be clear, CRL never actually owned the Addington site - it merely leased it. The council’s General Manager Citizens and Community Andrew Rutledge tells me the CRL board acknowledges that “the Ngā Puna Wai facilities are a significant improvement on their previous home and offer enhanced opportunities to grow the game at all levels”.

In a recent meeting with council, “operational improvements were also discussed on how to further improve the functionality” at Ngā Puna Wai.

Rutledge confirms the options report on the Addington site is being drafted and scheduled to go before the finance and performance committee next month. The report was actually due last November.

Cr Aaron Keown says “it never surprises me any more how long it takes for anything to move through council. It just disappoints me.”

A month ago the council missed out on the chance to raise $50 million through the sale of the Lichfield St car park building.

He wants the site rezoned “to whatever the highest-value property would be, and then sold to maximise the return to offset rates”.

Committee chair Cr Sam MacDonald agrees. “The site makes the most sense for housing, with good green space incorporated into it. If council undertakes the rezoning, we capture the uplift in value.”

Informal expressions of interest in the site have already been made with the council. Arvida South Island development team manager Peter Hornby confirms to me their interest “in potentially being involved”. (Arvida Park Lane neighbours the site.)

So assuming the 4.9 hectare site is rezoned for medium density housing, what could it fetch on the market? Construction consultant Mike Blackburn has run the numbers for me, which points to at least $35-39m, particularly given Christchurch is running out of land to build on.

Blackburn notes that Williams Corporation recently paid around $1600 per square metre for its land purchase adjacent to Parakiore.

He doesn’t anticipate the much larger Addington site commanding anywhere near that value. “Having said that, given the time the council shags around before making a decision, it might be worth $1500 per sq m.” (That would total $73m.)

Regardless of the final price, can councillors ultimately resist the emotional impulse for more hardcore hoarding? Let’s pay down debt and materially enhance the council’s financial health.