Waikato Regional Theatre's shift to avoid urupā rules out hotel development

Tuesday, 22 September 2020

The whole auditorium of the Waikato Regional Theatre – to be built in Hamilton's main street – will be moved eight metres closer to Victoria Street (file photo).

An eight-metre shift for Hamilton's new theatre auditorium avoids disturbing an urupā, but means a hotel can no longer fit in the development.

The 1300-seat Waikato Regional Theatre is a $74 million project driven by Momentum Waikato, and was

proposed after safety concerns closed Hamilton’s Founders Theatre.

Plans have been tweaked to avoid piling into part of Hua o te Atua Urupā, in the southeastern corner of site, after challenges from a hapū group and the Heritage New Zealand Māori Council.

“Effectively, we're moving the whole auditorium towards Victoria Street by eight metres, which avoids all of the known urupā area,” Momentum Waikato chief executive Kelvyn Eglinton said.

* Urupā concern at Waikato Regional Theatre site

The redesign was to avoid an urupā - Hua o te Atua - in the southeastern corner of the Waikato Regional Theatre site. Local group Nga Mana Toopu o Kirikiriroa and Heritage NZ raised concerns.

* 'Roll in the cranes' for Waikato Regional Theatre project

* Opening act in theatre drama: Waikato Regional Theatre seeks consent for construction

With that squeeze on space, a hotel development won't fit, he said.

The Government money will go towards a world-class, 1300-seat theatre in Hamilton's main street, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. This video was first published in October 2019.

An early theatre pitch included an art gallery and boutique hotel which would incorporate the facade of the old Hamilton Hotel on the site.

They would have been privately developed, so weren’t in the $74m price tag.

“In some ways [the change] just takes the project back to what its first premise was, which is a theatre with a commercial offering at the front,” Eglinton said.

And Covid makes developing a hotel a bigger risk as, even if travel restrictions are lifted during the 18-month build, it may take longer for tourists to return.

Momentum Waikato has raised $69m, leaving $5m to find, chief executive Kelvyn Eglinton said (file photo).

“It’s a missed opportunity for the city but … to do the culturally right thing you have to make those decisions,” Eglinton said.

The call was made by the Waikato Regional Property Trust – which will own and govern the theatre – and members felt they made the right decision by Ngāti Wairere and Heritage NZ, he said.

Work on the main street, riverside theatre site - where the former Hamilton Hotel was – is expected to start early in 2021.

Eglinton expects it to be done by December 2022, and within the budget.

“Covid obviously had an impact. We were expecting to be hitting the ground about now, late August, mid-September, with site preparation.”

“We had that seven, eight weeks where we couldn't go on site, so our preferred contractor couldn’t do the pricing.”

Foster Construction is the preferred contractor, chosen by the Waikato Regional Property Trust, which will own and govern the theatre.

The trust evaluated three tenders through an early contractor involvement process, but decided to go back to the market, Eglinton said.

Fosters hadn't been involved until then, making the company the obvious other option.

When the company was formally asked to submit a tender, Foster chief executive, Leonard Gardner stepped down as Momentum Waikato chair.

There are two final hurdles for the theatre: an appeal by a hapū group and finding the final few million to fully fund the project.

Ngā Mana Toopu o Kirikiriroa, the representative group of Ngāti Wairere, has made an appeal to Heritage New Zealand, Eglinton said.

The groups have had positive talks and he hopes it can be resolved without a hearing.

A spokesman for Ngā Mana Toopu o Kirikiriroa declined to comment while the appeal was under way.

On the financial front, Momentum Waikato has raised $69m, leaving $5m to find.

A $12m chunk of the cash comes from the Government's Provincial Growth Fund, along with other funding from Hamilton City Council, Waikato Regional Council, Trust Waikato, the Provincial Growth Fund, Lotteries Board and a range of trusts and philanthropic individuals, families and businesses.

Momentum hopes to raise a further $2m to give the theatre some cash in the bank when it starts operating, and to support local acts and stories being told.

Some donors want to buy music stands, seats, or pianos to support the arts or the city, Eglinton said.

“Once we get through this last appeal and we get through the design, then we’ll launch our campaign for the last $5m. We've got pledges and we’ve got people lined up, but we’re in a bit of a situation where we’re spinning wheels.

“We can't go out and talk to people whilst we still have an appeal to get through. But we're hopeful. Things are looking positive,” Eglinton said.

“Everyone wants to see it open and doing what it's doing. Some people have got different views about location, but no-one has said we don't need a new theatre.”