Reading Cinemas will return to its closed Wellington complex, news seen as good for the city.
The cinema building in the Courtenay Place complex had sat unused since it was closed due to earthquake concerns in 2019.
The new owners, Primeproperty Group (Prime), recently announced their aim to lease the rear to Reading Cinemas once earthquake strengthening is complete.
Prime purchased the Wellington property from Reading Cinemas for $38 million according details of the announcement.
Mayor Tory Whanau had already struck a deal between Wellington City Council and Reading Cinemas to expand the complex, one of his most sensible priorities.
But a year later, the board announced it had scrapped the $32 million plan to buy the land and lease it back to the company.
That led to it going up for sale in July.
Even if the council had invested $32 million to buy the land beneath the site, Reading would still have had to spend about $70 million to redevelop the complex, according to Wellington councilor Tim Brown.
“The wonderful thing about Prime coming in is that Prime has really deep resources, it has wonderful experience, it has done renovations of this nature before, so it turns out to be a win-win scenario. world,” Brown said.
Head of Trinity Hospitality Group Jeremy Smith said he hoped the cinema chain’s return to the location would attract a greater variety of people back to the city’s entertainment district.
“Having that balance between movie theaters, retail and hospitality (it’s going to be wonderful for the street) because you attract other people at other times of the day and that’s what Courtenay Place wants to revitalize — that the street has been busy from the end of the day, from the afternoon, through dinner, to the live music stage late into the night,” Smith said.
Disruption through the Council’s Golden Mile allocation remains a “potential problem” for a network desperate to get the party district back to life, he said.
“It’s going to disrupt the whole street for a long time.
“Personally, I would prefer that the Golden Mile not go ahead and that we look at others to revitalize Courtenay Place, which would also speed up the whole process,” Smith said.
Whanau said she welcomed Primeproperty taking over the site. Stating that the completion of the Golden Mile project would ultimately be beneficial to businesses in the area.
“The council’s Golden Mile allocation will begin this year. In the first phase of the assignment, we will revitalize Courtenay Place and bring new life and energy to our downtown area.
“Businesses will gain advantages, especially from the influx of consumers who will be drawn to the domain once revitalization is complete,” Whanau said.
Jon Justice, duty manager at nearby pool hall The Ballroom, said he hoped reopening the complex would lift the tone of the strip and send a few more customers his way between showings.
“That’s 40 metres of unused frontage that quite often gets squatted in front of – graffiti moves in – people avoid it because of that,” Justice said.
Filmmaker and critic Graeme Tuckett said cinemas had stepped up to fill the void left by the closure of the multiplex in 2019.
He hoped Reading would invest enough in the complex to set it apart from the other offerings in the capital.
“Plus the mighty Embassy [Theatre] you’ve also got the Light House, The Roxy, the [Penthouse Cinema & Cafe] all of whom do an incredible job and Wellington cinema-goers have still been able to get a ticket when they want one.
“But I think if [Reading Cinemas] spent the money and put an IMAX screen there, they would make a ton of friends,” Tuckett said.
The timing of the reopening is impeccable, he said, now that the film industry has almost fully recovered from three straight brutal years of the pandemic.
The acquisition of Primeproperty also included the houses in the adjacent car park.
Primeproperty Group CEO Eyal Aharoni said that in addition to the extensive earthquake strengthening, the resort’s advertising domain would be expanded to offer new retail and dining features, plus a similar number of cinemas as when the complex closed in 2019.
“This site has a wonderful prospect of providing Wellington with a much-needed cinema and food shopping complex with generous parking. Together with Reading Cinemas Courtenay Central Limited, we will ensure Wellingtonians have access to a world-class cinema experience, while new retail and hospitality offerings will help revitalize the region,” Aharoni said.
Aharoni said the paintings are expected to last about 18 months and the goal is to open them in 2026.
They said the redevelopment of the site would be managed by the group’s in-house team, in partnership with local engineering firms and builders and would provide employment opportunities for the region during the construction phase and in the longer term once the facility opened for business.
“While sustainable features are still being designed, PPG is committed to ensuring the renovation is as environmentally friendly as possible. One of the main benefits will be reduced traffic, as the complex will bring retail offerings to Wellington that lately only have been had in Hutt Valley and Porirua, reducing the need for citizens to leave the city,” Aharoni said.
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