Culture shift proposed for city precinct
Palmerston North’s cluster of council and cultural buildings in Main St has the potential to be transformed into a creative precinct.
A boutique hotel, a cultural centre, central city living, a car parking building, more shops and a new Te Manawa feature among the most ambitious concepts presented to city councillors for the first time this week.
Council staff, Rangitāne representatives and lead consultants Arup unveiled 90 pages of concepts and ideas to councillors at the first workshop to be held in public since the council ditched its practice of holding briefings behind closed doors.
The area being considered for the precinct stretches from the council building on The Square, running the length of the block between Church St and along Main St to the Railway Land.
It already contains the civic administration building, conference and function centre, art gallery and Te Manawa museum of art, science and heritage, the New Zealand Rugby Museum, the Globe Theatre, and first-floor of the library.
Arup architect Pete Bossley said the cluster presented many opportunities both for each part, and as the foundations of something bigger.
‘‘Most cities in the world would give their right arm to have this incredible potential, with so many cultural organisations in such close proximity.’’
Council chief planning officer David Murphy said there were seismic issues with many of the council-owned buildings, which provided the impetus to do more forward planning than simply fixing them up, one by one.
Doing nothing was not an option, he said.
Rangitāne representatives Warren Warbrick and Peter Te Rangi have been working with the consultants from the start of their discussions, which had come up with a vision for the future.
‘‘A civic and cultural place that welcomes, uplifts and nourishes communities by weaving together past, present and future.’’
He said the precinct could work like the umbilical cord of the city, reaching out from the pito or belly button of Te Marae o Hine with its central cultural theme of peace, winding a plait of fibres into Main St as a place of growth, creativity and knowledge.
The planning so far envisages the street as a place more for people than traffic, with planting and some protection from the weather.
The most modest of the three scenarios being developed would be largely business as usual, with existing buildings strengthened and refurbished.
The new elements could include a Rangitāne cultural centre next to the civic administration building on Main St, and a parking building and commercial space on Church St.
Those buildings would sit beside the conference and function centre, extended to provide a 600-seat banquet hall.
The second scenario would provide a small upstairs extension to the library, and part of the council building would be converted into a boutique hotel.
The cultural centre would move across the road to the councilowned Harvey Normal car park on Main St, and there would be another commercial building on the corner of Church and Pitt streets.
The most ambitious third scenario would see more of the council building converted to hotel rooms, a complete move and rebuild for Te Manawa, and an apartment block on the corner of Pitt St and Church St.
City councillors have not yet endorsed or adopted the planning work done so far, nor given direction about how the plans should develop.
There was some positive feedback from councillors at the workshop.
Cr Rachel Bowen said it was aspirational, and Cr Brent Barrett said he hoped some investment of public money in the civic buildings would encourage residential development sooner rather than later.
Mayor Grant Smith said he liked the positivity, and that the city had to have a master plan if it was to attract investment into creating the precinct, which could cost billions of dollars.
But he was disappointed councillors had not been kept up to speed with the concepts earlier.
He said there was a lot to absorb, yet some of the council’s earlier ideas had not been incorporated.
Cr Lorna Johnson went further, and said it was incredible the process had come so far without councillor input into elements as basic as the vision and objectives.
Cr Karen Naylor asked for a pause on releasing the details of the planning so far, as the public perception would be that councillors agreed with the plans, which was not the case.
Public engagement is expected to happen either late this year or in early 2023, with the big decisions coming up for consultation as part of the 2024 review of the council’s long-term plan.