In February this year, Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau told her fellow councillors it would further “kill” Courtenay Place if they didn’t back a $32 million deal with a multinational company.
The deal was to buy the land under the Reading Cinemas complex so the international owners could use the money to finally fix the quake-prone building and get it back open.
It was an idea met with fierce opposition by some – councillor Iona Pannett called it corporate welfare and councillor Ray Chung said it was the worst commercial deal he had ever seen.
It was a transfer of wealth from ratepayers to a multinational company.
It was also shrouded in secrecy, only adding to councillors’ unease and angst. Councillor Ben McNulty took to social media to try to explain to ratepayers why he felt so conflicted, but ultimately voted for the deal, which he described as a “carrot”, given the council had no sticks to force Reading to fix the building.
“So on the choice of using a generous carrot with guaranteed outputs versus leaving the site to rot until 2035 (which Reading’s financial position means they will do), I’ve taken a massive punt on backing the former.”
Those who voted for it had all the justifications in the world, but they chose to overlook the obvious – that without the Council dangling corporate welfare to the owners, they would not just let an asset sit there. They notion it would rot until 2035 was fantasy.
Three months on and a possibility nobody seemed to consider during the past year of controversy has emerged – the derelict Reading Cinemas complex is for sale.
Entirely predictable and probably would have happened earlier if the Council didn’t keep trying to throw money at the owners.
It’s clear Reading has been unable to develop the site for years, and the fact it’s now selling it – within months of the council deal ending – confirms just how attractive and last-resort the deal was to the multinational.
Putting the site up for sale is the right thing to do, paving the way for development and revitalisation of a key part of Wellington’s city centre.
Funnily enough, it achieves exactly what Whanau was trying to do with her doomed deal, but without ratepayers having to pay a cent.
Rather than further killing Courtenay Place, the deal falling through appears to have delivered it a lifeline.
Absolutely, and those Councillors who voted for the deal should be ashamed they were so gullible with our money.
David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders.
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