Venue ‘would complement’ metro sports

Private developers want the Christchurch City Council support to build a major sports facility inside a former grocery warehouse.

With up to 30 courts suitable for national competition and 450 car parks, the suburban Northcote venue could open a year before the central city’s planned metro sports facility. It would cater for netball, basketball, volleyball and futsal (an indoor soccer code).

Developer Bayview Property would develop the venue at its own expense but wanted the council as a tenant. It bought the 1.7-hectare former distribution centre from supermarket giant Foodstuffs in 2014 and has resource consent to develop it.

Bayview director Mike Percasky said the facility was needed by community sporting groups, would complement the metro sports centre, and would give the council ‘‘great bang for its buck’’.

‘‘They do this in places like Wellington and Dunedin, but Christchurch has never had anything like this. This would be grassroots.’’

Percasky estimated the developed facility could be leased to council for $1.5 million a year, which he called ‘‘a drop in the bucket’’. It could be finished by 2020.

The $300m publicly funded metro sports facility will have nine netball courts, on space to be shared with other codes, plus a major swimming complex and other facilities.

Percasky and fellow Bayview director Kris Inglis presented their sports hub plans to the Papanui-Innes Community Board last week.

They hoped to talk to the city council in the next few days.

Canterbury Basketball general manager Paul Duggan said it would be ‘‘fantastic’’ to have it built. ‘‘We are crying out for court space and we’re bursting at the seams at the moment.’’

Duggan said club play was scattered across the city, creating a logistics ‘‘nightmare’’.