Developer says ‘cut’ to TV studio apartments
Avalon’s historic television studios are enjoying a revival that has put a halt to planned apartments on land surrounding the tower.
Developer Craig Stewart was granted consent in 2022 to build 181 terraced houses, 24 stand-alone apartments, and a four-storey commercial building with a café.
Stewart said he was a long-term investor, and had no plans to go ahead with apartments on the Lower Hutt site.
There are four production studios on the ground floor, and in recent months there has been a significant increase in bookings. Stewart said the studios had run as a business since he purchased the site, and with plenty of work on the horizon, he could see no reason to go ahead with apartments.
Stewart was not the only developer with plans for the site.
In 2020, high-profile developer Ian Cassels announced plans to turn the 10-storey tower into apartments. The project subsequently stalled, and yesterday, Wellington Company development manager Dylan McKee said it had experienced significant challenges “that were proving problematic” to resolve.
Purchasers had been released from their contracts, with the undertaking that if the project was to go ahead, existing purchasers would be offered the same terms as their original contracts.
“The Avalon project is currently paused until feasibility conditions within a
Craig Stewart
challenging construction environment improve. We are currently exploring several options.”
Stewart said Covid and the Hollywood strikes had had a major impact on the studios, and apartments had been a backup option that he was no longer seriously considering.
“In the months before Christmas, we had three or four good bookings, and we have had some good forward enquiries.”
As well as the TV studios, there are a number of well-established businesses on the surrounding land.
Real estate agent John Ross said he was not surprised to hear that Stewart was not going ahead with the development.
Developers in the city were doing it tough, he said, with development fees and the high cost of both borrowing and land having a major impact.
Stewart said most of his developments were in Wellington, but he agreed that it was a tough environment. “I think it is a tough time for developers across the country and not just in Lower Hutt.”
With the studios doing well, he said this was a better bet than apartments, and he was now looking for large long-term film or TV projects.
The tower is the most prominent feature of the former TV studio complex, which opened in 1975 under the then New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation as the country’s first purpose-built TV centre.
NZBC TV news services were shot at the site until 1980, when the broadcaster began shifting operations to Auckland. It was gradually wound down, and the tower was sold in 2004, with the rest of the studio sold in 2010. Close to Home, Lotto, Country Calendar, Ready to Roll, Fair Go, What Now and Dancing with the Stars were all produced at Avalon.
TV One was officially launched from what was then called the Avalon Television Centre in April 1975. It was touted as New Zealand’s first custom-made TV facility, with comedian Fred Dagg taking part in the opening night celebrations.