Wgtn picks arena site but availability in doubt

WELLINGTON: The preferred location for an indoor arena in Wellington has been found, but it will be months before it is clear whether the land is free to be built on.

Mayors from across the wider region discussed the options at a meeting on Tuesday and believed Kings Wharf, owned by Centreport, was the best place to put a 12,000seat indoor arena.

Earlier this year five options were released, including the Centreport option.

Kings Wharf was one of the few places in the city an indoor arena would be successful, Mayor Justin Lester said. But first, the council needed to secure the land.

‘‘We currently don’t own it, it’s in the ownership of Centreport, and at the moment they’re not clear what their future use of that land will be.

‘‘There’s an exciting opportunity, that it could work, but we won’t know that for sure until the second half of 2019.’’

A report earlier this year said an indoor arena with 12,000 seats could bring about $26 million into the region every year. It would mean acts such as Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift, who had bypassed the city in the past, might stop in, Mr Lester said.

If the Centreport land was not available, the project would go back to the drawing board.

Centreport is considering where to put a multiuse ferry terminal, and Kings Wharf is one of two preferred locations.

A multiagency approach was being taken to the whole precinct, regional council chairman Chris Laidlaw said.

It was a complex matrix, because the city’s transport plan also had to be taken into consideration.

He said it would be fantastic to have an arena in the area, and possibly housing.

‘‘There are a lot of players in this, there are a lot of difficulties in this, because there are a lot of corridors, we want to speed up public transport through that, we want more people cycling and walking through the area, all those have got to be fitted into the matrix. It’s a gigantic operation, and it’s going to take us another nine months to get there.’’

Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency chief executive Lance Walker said the arena would provide for more than concerts.

‘‘We’re talking sporting events, big family events like Cirque de Soleil and Disney on Ice, so it really is designed to attract a whole range of events.’’ — RNZ