It’s like winning the heritage preservation Lotto jackpot: whiz, bang, kaching! Here’s $31.5m to make good your rundown Category 1 listed building.
Yes, that amount in central and local government funding has been offered in the last eight years to restore Auckland’s historic St James Theatre.
In 2015, $15m was pledged by the council, then a Crown ministry offered $1.5m three years later and just on Saturday, a further $15m was hefted towards the crumbling, leaking Queen St wreck.
Not a cent of that vast amount has yet been spent, though.
Let’s trace a little history, then.
In the late 1990s, Auckland’s grand and much-used Civic cost $42m to restore. Now one of this city’s most treasured heritage theatres, the Queen St beauty re-opened to much praise in 2000.
Yet despite the $31.5m being held out to the owners, a director of St James Holdings which owns the theatre, Steve Bielby, said it had not used a cent of the state money.
The theatre is like a grave, its ground floor dug up, no concerts, plays, films or ballets performing there.
On Saturday, Deputy PM and Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage Carmel Sepuloni said the Government would match Auckland Council’s existing $15m pledge. Some media wrongly reported the Government would give that amount as long as the council matched it.
The minister didn’t say it, but even the axe of Mayor Wayne Brown and his budget cuts had not quietly fallen on that existing council’s $15m, committed eight years ago, amazing though that seems.
Bielby might not be spending the public purse. But he has been quite busy. He has done a lot: demolished the stage, torn up the floorboards and had the ground dug up ready for building strengthening. The waterfall curtain is in storage, he said, although valance bordering still up has deteriorated significantly. The theatre traditionally got a new curtain around every 20 years, so he’s not so concerned about replacing that.
All this destruction certainly guarantees no performances because the floor more resembles a badly managed farm paddock than the area beneath a glittering stage.
Bielby explains what he sees as progress so far.
“Part of the restoration and structural upgrade is an element of reconstruction. We did part of the foundation work which started before we stopped in 2017. It’s quite confronting to see a building like this with no floor and just the dirt. But we have to do that to do the foundation work. Putting a new floor in isn’t a huge amount of work. The finishing of these buildings is where it all comes together,” he said.
He is a director and shareholder of St James Holdings, St James Trustee and Airedale Trustee, having done up historic Airedale cottages before he moved on to the St James.
Sepuloni was upbeat on Saturday: “After being closed for the last 15 years, our Government’s contribution towards the preservation of the St James Theatre will sit alongside funding from the Auckland Council and the owner to support its restoration so that it can reopen for the wider public to enjoy again – concert experiences, stately decor and all.”
Her statement was headed “Government helps to unlock the doors of St James Theatre”. Well, not quite yet. It’s been closed for years.
Auckland MP Chlöe Swarbrick went even further, standing amidst the rubble: “We’ve saved the St James.”
All that had really happened was that further public money was committed.
Sepuloni on Saturday reminded us her very own ministry had offered Bielby financial help last decade - admittedly before she was minister - and he hadn’t been able to accept that yet.
“In June 2017, Manatū Taonga the Ministry of Culture and Heritage offered $1.5m in Heritage Equip funding to the owners of St James Theatre in Auckland to support the earthquake strengthening of the building. This offer has yet to be taken up and remains open,” her statement reminded us.
Back in 2015 during ex-Mayor Len Brown’s tenure, Bielby got his original $15m council offer.
The Finance and Performance Committee agreed to fund up to $15m towards the restoration through “a secured suspensory loan from funds already budgeted for restoration works”.
It was agreed that loan be paid to the owner as long as some conditions would be satisfied, including completion of the stage 1 works and certification as to owner funds spent.
It was also agreed that repayment would be suspended as long as the owner met agreed conditions relating to public access and theatre availability.
That loan was to “be waived once stage 2 works have achieved practical completion, or earlier, based on a change from private to philanthropic ownership.”
So, that’s the council stipulations.
What are the Government’s $15m grant conditions?
First, agreement must be reached by everyone: “Contribution conditional on equal investment by Auckland Council and funding conditions that are being developed with relevant stakeholders and mana whenua,” Sepuloni’s statement said.
Brown’s $15m might well be only till next year too, she revealed: “Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has committed to funding provided work is under way by June 30, 2024.”
So the clock is ticking.
Then, a deal has to be struck about how to proceed: “Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage will engage with the theatre’s owners, Auckland Council, mana whenua and Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga on funding conditions. These conditions will then be agreed by the Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, the Minister of Finance and the Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage,” Sepuloni’s statement said.
Next, Bielby has to open his wallet: “The balance of the cost of the renovation will be the responsibility of the theatre’s owners, who have already made significant investments towards the conservation of the building. The central government funding will be provided from the Emerging Priorities Fund,” Sepuloni’s statement spelled out.
But plans for the never-built St James Apartments next door aren’t obviously part of this new deal: “Previous plans to reopen the St James were dependent on the construction of the adjacent apartment complex, which would house the building facilities for the theatre. The preservation and conservation of the theatre is no longer dependent on the construction of the adjacent apartment complex and the project can now proceed under its own timeline.”
So that’s one block removed, at least.
Bielby said previously he couldn’t go ahead until the apartments went ahead, even though those were ditched years ago.
Asked why he hadn’t taken up any of the $31.5m offered so far, Bielby said: “It’s only been our money that’s gone into it so far because there are conditions on the funding that mean we have to be able to deliver an operational theatre before we get the $15m from the council, and we couldn’t meet that condition so we couldn’t get that money.
“We either needed the Government to match the council’s $15m or the apartment building and the latter isn’t happening.”
Private funds of about $15m “has come from our side so far”, he said, referring to the Auckland Notable Properties Trust and the main partner in the apartment development, Relianz.
The trust owns St James Holdings which owns the theatre at 312 Queen St. Trustees are Bielby and two lawyers: Denise Marsden from AlexanderDorrington Lawyers and a new trustee, yet to be confirmed.
Apartment developers Relianz exclusively owns the apartment site, he said. New toilets, the tower and the lobby are all on the Relianz site. Restoration work has to be done to theatre structures on the apartment site owned by Relianz’ Chinese owners, he said.
The $31.5m will allow structural upgrades of the theatre and pay for the new foundation systems, cost of installing the base isolators and waterproofing via a new roof, Bielby said.
“It will give us a structural building but it won’t give us the theatre-specific equipment which would include a sprung floor of the stage for ballet, the rigging for the fly tower for the different sets or props to be changed within shows, nor the show-specific lighting, sound systems or projectors,” he said today.
No contractor had yet been appointed but Bielby said that was planned.
“We’ve got some existing relationships with key subcontractors because this is such specialised work. We hope to have work started by early next year and certainly the theatre operating by its centenary in 2028. But our goal now is to beat the City Rail Link which is due to open around 2026. So we hope to have the theatre opened within about two-and-a-half years, in 2026,” Bielby said.
On accessing the $1.5m ministry money, Bielby said that would only be possible once construction work was finished on the foundations. It’s specifically for earthquake-proofing the foundations.
“There is the real public will and desire to see this building saved, yet $31.5m is not a lot of money to build a new venue - which is what we’re essentially doing. This is the cheapest ‘new’ venue Auckland will get.”
The stall seats were gone when he bought it, he explained.
“I don’t know that it feels like I’ve won a jackpot. It’s a lot of work ... Nine years we’ve had it. The offers made have been well-intentioned but due to circumstances, the money’s been out of our reach. We haven’t been able to take up the money because we haven’t been able to fulfil the terms of the conditions on it which is to make progress.
“But the new $15m from the Government announced on Saturday will enable us to meet those requirements to take up the entire $31.5m,” he said.
Next year’s programme of works would start with foundation work. Eighty base isolators bought for several million dollars and manufactured at a weapons factory outside San Francisco are in an East Tāmaki warehouse. Holes will be drilled from 8m to 14m deep into bedrock for new foundations to be poured.
Those isolators will then be connected to the foundations. The third and last remaining wall which needs strengthening is on the Queen St side. A new concrete roof has to be built, then fire suppression and new electrical systems installed, Bielby said on Tuesday.
Then the theatre’s decorative process will begin, he said.
“It will be around 2025 that we’re starting to install the services,” he said.
New toilets will be built on the Relianz site.
Aurecon was previously the engineer on the project but Bielby says a procurement process would result in an engineering business being appointed for the next stage of works.
Conservation specialists Matthews & Matthews Architects were working on the project and their design work was largely completed so it made sense to continue their engagement, Bielby said.
He had at times wondered if he wanted to carry on with the project but said the Government and council were adamant they didn’t want to own the theatre nor to spend the full amount of money themselves, Bielby said.
“We’ve got a different or novel approach. Usually, a restoration of this size would be in the realm of a civic project. The easy option would be for the council and Government to foot 100 per cent of the bill. I’m hoping a development will be built on the St James apartment site because the theatre needs a neighbour, not a courtyard. I’m open to any form of development on that site,” Bielby said, referring to 304-328 Queen St.
Asked if he felt like he had won the $31.5m heritage Lotto, Bielby said: “I don’t know that I see it like that. There’s a lot of work here.”
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 23 years, has won many awards, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
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