The Auckland Showgrounds, which is home to events like Armageddon, will continue to be operated by New Zealand Exhibition and Events Co through to 2028. Photo / NZME
The Auckland Showgrounds, which is home to events like Armageddon, will continue to be operated by New Zealand Exhibition and Events Co through to 2028. Photo / NZME
Hundreds of Auckland events are safe for now after a new five-year lease of the Showgrounds was struck following a lengthy legal fight to stop it from being leased to a film company.
New Zealand Exhibition and Events Co (NZEEC), the interim operator, will continue its management of the site through to 2028, the Cornwall Park Trust Board announced today.
Cornwall Park Trust Board chief executive Murray Reade said they had received several high-calibre proposals for taking the Showgrounds forward.
“We are confident NZEEC is the best partner to run the Auckland Showgrounds through to 2028,” Reade said.
The Showgrounds are home to iconic events like the Auckland Home Show and Armageddon.
Since its inception in 1911, the Auckland Showgrounds have operated on land owned by the Cornwall Park Trust - which was created in 1901 to administer an enormous section of land gifted to Auckland by John Logan Campbell.
Under the Trust’s control is the 172ha of Cornwall Park, 8.2ha of the Auckland Showgrounds and around 90 residential properties around the park.
NZEEC’s Mark Frankham said the lease enables the Auckland Showgrounds to continue to be used for events, exhibitions, and trade fairs.
“We are now able to offer assurance to event and exhibition holders across New Zealand, providing the comfort and certainty of having an experienced NZEEC team who are all well versed in the events industry. We welcome their future event bookings.”
Existing bookings will continue to be honoured.
Cornwall Park Trust Board CEO Murray Reade (left), Dean Mulholland, NZEEC's, and Mark Frankham, NZEEC. Photo / Brett Phibbs
The future of the Showgrounds, formerly known as the ASB Showgrounds, has been up in the air since early 2021.
The Herald reported in March of that year how the Covid-19 pandemic and a proposed massive rent hike were adding pressure to the board that ran the exhibition site which was struggling to remain solvent.
In June 2021 it went into liquidation, reportedly owing almost $3 million.
Despite a full book of events at the time of its liquidation, the Showgrounds had been severely hampered by the pandemic by the cancellation of its 250 exhibitions and events a year prior to Covid, which attracted over 1.3 million visitors annually.
The Cornwall Park Trust had been seeking to finalise a major deal with Xytech Studio Management – a major film studio connected to Hollywood – before an Auckland High Court ruling intervened against the move.
Such a deal, had it proceeded, would have given priority to film production over events and public use.
