…and Waitematā & Gulf boundary changes overturned by Local Government Commission.
On 27 February, Council’s Governing Body confirmed the formal agreement between the council, Government and the owners to enable the restoration of St James Theatre to finally proceed. Mayor Wayne Brown inviting me to second his motion.
As usual there is a long and rather complicated back story but I will try to keep it simple. In 2016, Auckland Council, then led by Mayor Len Brown, voted to contribute $15m to the private owners of Queen Street’s iconic St James Theatre to assist in its restoration as a heritage building. The development was meant to take place together with the building of an apartment tower on the adjacent property which for various reasons did not proceed. The St James' project then hung in abeyance for some seven years until the Labour Government in mid-2023 announced that it would also contribute $15m to the project. I understand this had been recommended by the former PM Jacinda Ardern after lobbying by the owner Steve Bielby and by local MP Chlöe Swarbrick. I became involved in the project again when I was asked to represent the Mayor at the public announcement which was made by the then Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni.
I say ‘again’ because I first became involved with St James when I chaired council’s Heritage Advisory Panel from 2013 to 2019, and as a councillor who supported the original contribution.
Of course, I am one of those Aucklanders old enough to remember going to see the movies at the St James, classics like ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ and ‘Saturday Night Fever’, and short-cutting through the plushly carpeted St James vestibule to and from the Auckland City Library. In its glory days the late Queen was a guest of honour here, as was Princess Diana. But like a lot of things in our country and our city, in the wake of 1980s wheeling and dealing, St James fell upon hard times and has stayed that way.
To return to my story. In July 2023 the Mayor asked me to head up a ‘St James Working Party’. This was an assignment I took up with some enthusiasm. The terms of reference were essentially to review the St James business case and to make recommendations. As I was given a free hand, I invited two outside experts to join me. They were city developer Andrew Krukziener who built the classic Metropolis Tower and just recently restored and enhanced 131 Queen Street, and George Farrant the highly regarded former council principal heritage adviser. During the early days of the ill-fated Queen Street apartment tower project I managed to persuade Mayor Len Brown’s office to finance the rescue of the splendid 1950s mosaic by Maurice K. Smith which graced the walls of the about to be demolished underground Odeon Theatre next to the St James. George, applying his skills from his experience with Greco/Roman ruins, personally dismantled the mural, tile by tile – 200 in all. It is now in storage and may yet find a place in a restored St James? Anyway, both men generously donating their time and expertise pro bono. We worked away quietly, eschewing publicity (this is the first time I have written about it).
Mindful of the series of disastrous blowouts in other council-led projects, Christchurch Cathedral and Wellington Town Hall come to mind, our recommendations to the council chief executive focussed on instilling rigour, securing value for the $30m public investment, securing the services of an expert quantity surveyor to enable cost-to-complete budget tracking (new to local government), and securing the grant by way of a mortgage. These recommendations were accepted fully by the council CEO when he signed off the agreements in June last year. Like thousands of Aucklanders, I wish Steve Bielby every success in his mission.
Finally, on another matter entirely, it was extremely heartening to learn the Local Government Commission has overturned the highly questionable six-year separation of the Waitemata & Gulf Ward and Waitematā Local Board boundaries which I wrote about last month and have been battling since 2018. It’s nice to be vindicated. Justice at last! “It gives you hope,” as one resident told me. I thank the members of the public who submitted, especially the staunch people of Parnell. Parnell is back! Conflicted local body politicians with a partisan interest in the outcome should never be allowed to make those sorts of decisions again. (MIKE LEE)
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