What a great way to start off 2025, with the sale of Reading cinema to Prime Property. That’s the best news Wellington could have, outside of Wellington Water saying “We’ve fixed all the pipes”, or WCC saying “Rates bill going down 50% this year”. Prime Property has just secured itself the bargain of the decade, no matter the cost, as the land parcels make up a massive land grab situated right in the city. There’s over a hectare of land, and 2 or possibly 3 street frontages. It’s a bargain!
The owner of Prime, the greyhound slim Eyal Aharoni, will no doubt have already made approaches to suitable architects, probably way before he even signed a deal with Reading International, to take their miserable pile of pigeon-stained cinemas off their hands. The question we all wanted answered next is: what is he / they going to do with it?
No doubt the Council will already have spoken with Prime, again, probably earlier last year. Everyone has an opinion on this piece of land, some sensible, some magical, some just plain stupid. It certainly won’t be demolished for a great big park as some simpletons have suggested. Spend several millions ($32m?) on a building, spend millions more knocking it down and building a park, only to give the land away for free? I’m sure that Eyal didn’t get to be a multi-millionaire by giving away the best empty section in Wellington!
It’s more likely that Prime will run car parks on the site, while they decide what to do with it. Prime already run car park facilities quite successfully in several locations, a nice little earner. He’s a developer though, so long term he will want to develop. It’s a good site for hospo or retail on ground floor, with apartments or hotels on upper floors.
Personally I don’t believe it is likely to be redeveloped as commercial offices, as there’s not much call for vast new office floor plates down that end of town. Could it be Cinema once more? I doubt it. That ship has sailed, that moment has passed. Twenty years ago that made sense, when the city had Rialto, Paramount, Embassy and Reading all offering films, but now the general population seem to just prefer to Netflix and Chill. There’s no going back to the days of Reading’s ten cinema – when it was last open (2017 ? 2018 ? 2019 ?) I was often just about the only person in the room if they tried to show anything other than big box bonkbusting blockbusters.
It could, of course, be a site for the long awaited, much promised, never delivered National Art Gallery, if the Council or Government were to buy into it, but: This Council? No way, they’re morally and financially bankrupt. This Government? No way, they’re morally have zero interest in arts or heritage. Maybe it could become a giant stabling yard for Light Rail trains?
I jest, of course, as we all now know that Simon Says: More Roads. Not trains.
There have been other suggestions from the public as to what could be done with the site. A column on Scoop earlier last year suggested that a public walkway should be made through the site, to connect Courtenay Place to Takina and Te Papa. That’s not a radical proposal though – the Council have been after that site for years – hence Mayor Whanau’s ill-fated and ultimately stupid plan to try and buy the land beneath the crippled cinema complex last year.
So what actually DOES make money in this climate? Selling vapes is a sure fire way (sorry) to make money, but a one hectare Vape shop seems excessive, even for Casey Costello. Mobile phone shops? Ditto. Moore Wilson could fill it up, or even New World or Woolworths / Countdown / whatever they call it these days, but again: unlikely. It could be a great site for a proper massive music venue, somewhere in size between the Stadium and Shed 6. About the size of the Kilbirnie Indoor Sports Centre, but without the pesky netballers. Silly game.
It could, of course, be a site for a Movie Museum! Imagine that… But no, that ship too has sailed. So I’m back to where we started. Car parking, walkway through, bars, cafes, food market, apartments for lovers of noisy nightlife, hotels for people who cannot sleep, or a Movie Museum from a megalomaniac movie mogul? What are you hoping for?
Post-script
I thought that you might like to see what was originally planned for the site, way back in the 1980s, by the evil Chase Corporation. Found these in a search of the Fish archives…. Apparently it was quite a battle back in the day. Chase demolished whatever was there (anybody know what WAS there?) and announced plans for a 76m tall tower (about 20+ storeys) – this would have been about double the capacity of the BNZ tower complex – and later reduced that down to 67m – about 50% taller than the current row of buildings along the Quays. Designed by Cockburn Millage and looking either exciting or bloody awful, depending on your point of view, these were giant lumpy blocks, and I am very glad that they were never built.
My money is on it being levelled and used as a carpark for the next 10yrs.
Every so often they will tease the press (and Council) with talk of plans afoot, but that’s just to keep the critics at bay for another cycle.
KLK – you’re probably right. But before we demolish it, we need to know something.
Question is…. is it really an EQP building? I mean, REALLY ?
Let’s see. It has a modern steel structure, built in 2001 or thereabouts. It has a concrete slab on ground floor, and suspended concrete slab on crinkly steel tray-deck or something on first floor, sitting on some massive steel beams. There are some really light loads up above – a whole bunch of rooms containing mainly air, and the occasional person watching a movie. The foundations are probably not as good as a modern base isolated floor these days, but it is not as if there is a whole massive structure that needs protecting. It probably has a bunch of concrete block walls on each side to stop the neighbours breaking in and watching movies after lights out. If they are worried about structures falling down, this would be one of the buildings I would be LEAST worried about in Wellington. I’d be a lot more worried about… I dunno – the whole of Newtown?
My guess is that Prime will find a use for the building and tart it up for use in the mean time, before that grand mega scheme eventuates. We shall see…
Primeproperty Group (who call themselves a “property investment company” rather than a developer) are currently strengthening a 14-storey building (Athfield?) at 24 Manners Street. Due to reopen this year and office tenants are now being sought. (“Excellent natural light and city and harbour views.”) Strengthening the Reading building could be a small job, in comparison. Though it might be a challenge to find an operator to run ten cinemas. Perhaps they could be generous and think of using part of their acquisition as open space linking Courtenay Place through to the Convention Centre … (Well, through to a pedestrian crossing with traffic lights, leading to the Convention Centre.) Wasn’t this always part of a WCC plan?
Thanks Lindsay – “might be a challenge to find an operator to run ten cinemas” – absolutely right !!
Event Cinemas used to run the Reading Complex, and they are the ones who also are running the Embassy, for the Council, so there is a precedent already established there.
The bigger issue, for me, is that the entire Reading Cinema complex is designed very badly. No idea who the architect was, but the design was hopeless. No real idea from the outside what films were on, or when, (although they added a signage board later – poorly maintained and so not much use). What they wanted was for people to come into Courtenay Central, buy some food downstairs, wind their way past all the shitty food options, head towards the very back of the building, then turn around and go back up the escalator to the upstairs, whereupon you could then find out what was on and what time it was on. Biggest turn-off ever. Plus everything was painted black, so it felt (and smelt) like Doom. Horrible experience for watching a movie.
Six months ago Guy Marriage made a constructive contribution about the future of the Reading site. He included a persuasive argument for a major pedestrian walking route through the site from Courtenay Place to Wakefield. https://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=162417
Very persuasive indeed – sounds like he knows what he is talking about.
I too have spoken to people at the Council about the pedestrian route – and they will be pushing hard for this.
A pedestrian walking route should absolutely be part of the redevelopment and there could be something in it for the developer if done right; not too many covered and sheltered shopping lanes (complete with bars, restaurants and cafes) in the city.
In fact, lined with cheap eateries and seating down the middle for the length of it, could really invigorate the area.
Wasn’t the site once a car showroom? Mitsubishi? Chrysler? One of the Todd stable, anyway.
With the QEII Arts Council upstairs.
After that it was a festering sore when Chase Corp knocked the buildings down for no good reason and left the site to rot for years – not even a gravel carpark.
Thanks, Nemo, for the archival additions.
Seems that this area was once the unlikely home of the motor trade. Across the road, in the ground floor of another Chase Corp blob (mainly tenanted by dentists, accountants and blood samplers now) is a hidden mini-museum recognising the Ford factory which put together Model Ts from Detroit kitsets on the site.
Some kind of dodgy public-benefit trade-off for extra floors of blob?
That’s MY blood sampling place ! Whereabouts is the hidden mini-museum? I’ve never seen one ! Or do you mean the old Colonial Motors Museum building next door, which is now a Chow Bros Hotel? The Oaks or something slightly mis-placed like that?
All of that block used to be the Colonial Motor Company
When we built Sanctum Apartments around 2002 there were old Ford logos on Ebor St apartment row which headed towards Jessie st and the old AA yard between the corner and Tory/Cafe 88 was originally Ford/CMC as well
Sanctum went up on an area which was apparently originally an assembly area – some will recall the distorted trade barriers of the 70s where items like TVs and cars were imported nearly assembled then put together in NZ to get around some “made in nz” rule
The car “museum” was at the end of the corridor leading to the lifts for the medical sample place on the ground floor – one old Ford in a glass garage IIRC
The block next door facing Taranaki St also had CMC livery – it was an ad agency HQ for a while I think – Saatchi??
I have changed my vampires of choice these days, so it has been a while, but there did indeed use to be a small, glazed display place near the lifts. I feel that it was mainly filled with large images and text panels. It’s possible that the actual Model T has gone now.
The Saatchi mob were in the mirror-glass building on the corner, which replaced the Terminus Hotel – still rocking to the Spines and the Hulamen until 1984 or so. There was a small private hotel between the CMC and the pub which held out against the wreckers for quite a lot longer – home to quintessential 80s restaurant and piano bar Java.
I’ll have a Brandy Alexander please, Geraldine…
“I’ll have a Brandy Alexander please, Geraldine…” Sometimes you are obtuse, or subject to obfuscation, Mr Gonville. I’m sure that this is a reference to something – I have not the faintest what it is…
The impeccable Geraldine York was the host at Java and to be quite honest a Brandy Alexander was the most 80s cocktail I could think of. Anything with cream in it would do.
Something with something of a ‘laneway’ (guys let’s use the more palatable parlance) – as I can’t imagine they’ll want to give away too much sq m.
Smart money might do something with a courtyard/square in the middle – which enables the connection to the waterfront and maybe even some light / horizon…
Retail and hospitality on the street level (al fresco cafes, restos) – and the mixed commercial above or even residential. But I’d think some cultural spaces would be cool (galleries, small museums/venues? etc) but likely hotel space or apts in the upper floors.
In short, something for direct stakeholders, something for locals, something for visitors. Revenue throughout. Hopefully no parking.
cle – I try and avoid using the ward laneway as it is too overly trendy right now – i refer you to the Laneway Festival which, I believe, does not take place in a Laneway, and possibly never has. But yes – something with a courtyard in the middle, protected from the wind, open to the sunny sky, and hopefully with some kind of view.
PS – is cle short for monocle or icicle?
There must surely be a limit to the number of food / hospitality businesses that the area can support (when there’s already so many to choose from). But galleries / small museums etc sounds a really good idea, and a point of difference.
The old WellUrban site’s blogger Tom Beard once went through having a vodka martini in every place in Wellington that served one, in one year. I think there was something like 367 places you could get a martini in those days. That’s a serious task to take on. Not sure if he would want to do it all again in the name of economic science…
Oh I do miss him. I wonder what the exercise would be today – how the establishments have changed and what the bellwether drink would be, if changed. I hope his liver is up to it!
Out of idle curiosity, do Prime Property mainly build new buildings, or re-develop existing buildings? That might give a bit of a clue to the future. . .
Prime owned the old ICI House in Molesworth St, Thorndon, which got damaged in the 2016 quakes, and had to be pulled down and has recently been rebuilt and will be the new MFAT HQ – under construction at present. So yes, they do redevelop existing AND build new.
Do you reckon PP will illegally rent out Courtenay Central to desperate students at the start of the university year, before being found out and it going the way of the Molesworth Street building?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/illegal-rental-of-office-space-to-wellington-family-created-chilling-risks/DRU67DWOL55LXA4JFRB2U527SE/
Ouch !! The internet has a long memory…
Wooaah!
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360548281/reading-cinemas-return-wellington-after-six-years
I’ll take ‘Things We Didn’t See Coming” for 400, Nemo.
Goodness ! Well, that shows that I don’t know what I am talking about !
“Could it be Cinema once more? I doubt it. That ship has sailed, that moment has passed.”
vs
“Reading Cinemas is set to return to Wellington after it was revealed on Tuesday night that the cinema chain’s owner, Reading International, intends to undertake a redevelopment of the old building. The company has entered into a Sale and Purchase Agreement with Prime Property Group, with part of the deal including a seismic upgrade of the the Courtenay Central building. After this is completed, the building will be reopened as a cinema complex, with Reading Cinemas undertaking a long-term lease.”
Of course, my other comments still stand:
“The bigger issue, for me, is that the entire Reading Cinema complex is designed very badly. No idea who the architect was, but the design was hopeless. No real idea from the outside what films were on, or when, (although they added a signage board later – poorly maintained and so not much use). What they wanted was for people to come into Courtenay Central, buy some food downstairs, wind their way past all the shitty food options, head towards the very back of the building, then turn around and go back up the escalator to the upstairs, whereupon you could then find out what was on and what time it was on. Biggest turn-off ever. Plus everything was painted black, so it felt (and smelt) like Doom. Horrible experience for watching a movie.”
Can you sort that out too please Eyal ?
Having not long emerged from Takina to have a look at the Banksy exhibition, I think that you’ll find that gloomy black interiors are all the go at the moment.
Still, there’ll be lights one supposes. . .
Something I’ve noticed in the past week, a lot of people pushing forward as if they are trying to embody the “survive to 25” mantra – people trying to be the green shoots of business optimism
All a bit YIMBY
It’s a lot better than October last year, that was a shocker with so many outfits going to the wall
I’m realising why people measure business sentiment and how much a groundswell can get things moving, I used to dismiss it as malarkey but I was wrong
Interesting times
If Reading want to make a success of the job I can give them a pro tip – don’t employ Aecom
2 or possibly 3 street frontages seems seriously underselling it. That city block is something like 150×200 metres. If you extend both existing lanes to the other side you get 4 still quite large city blocks, and those lanes just happen to criss-cross the site.