A battle is brewing over the future of Auckland's event sector. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
A battle is brewing over the future of Auckland's event sector. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
The future of many of Auckland's favourite events hangs in the balance amid a bidding war over how a valuable piece of Epsom land should be used.
At the centre of this debate is the Auckland Showgrounds (previously known as ASB Showgrounds), which has been in operation since 1911.
Since inception, the 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.
Senior Herald business journalist Jane Phare tells the Front Page podcast this arrangement possibly makes the Cornwall Park Trust one of Auckland's biggest landlords.
This expanse of land under the trust's control includes the 172ha of Cornwall Park, 8.2ha of the Auckland Showgrounds and around 90 residential properties around the park.
Over the past few decades, the Showgrounds were established as a key venue to host major events in Auckland, including the Boat Show, the Auckland Food Show, Armaggedon and many others.
But the future of these events could be under threat if the Cornwall Park Trust finalises a major deal with Xytech Studio Management - a major film studio connected to Hollywood.
"The studio wants to use the showgrounds for TV and big-budget movies and films," says Phare.
"The event and exhibition industry feel this will cut them out because Xytech wants to use it for four years and does have the right of renewal."
There are serious concerns about how a private movie studio could possibly co-exist with the hustle and bustle of the events industry, which is dependent on high levels of foot traffic.
"The events and exhibition industry know that the film industry is not going to allow the Easter Show, the Baby Show, the Food Show or Armaggedon to go near the site when you've got Benedict Cumberbatch and stars filming, often in secrecy."
Asked whether these events couldn't be moved to another location such Spark Arena or the Cloud, Phare says this would be incredibly difficult.
"They don't have the capacity of the Showgrounds," says Phare.
"They only have space for smaller to mid-range events rather than large events. The Boat Show, for instance, takes up every square metre of the 8.2ha site. Armaggedon would also be bursting at the seams. The owner actually said to me that he thinks Auckland should be building showgrounds twice the size of the existing one."
A prominent member of the events industry has approached the Cornwall Park Trust board with an alternative offer to that presented by Xytech, but it's unclear whether this will be enough to reserve the Showgrounds for events.
"A large events company called Coast, which owns Carlton Party Hire, has put in a very good proposal," Phare said.
"From what I understand, the two amounts [offered by Xytech and Coast] weren't very far apart."
It's now up to the Cornwall Park Trust to decide which offer it will take.
"My feeling is that the trust board favours the film company because they feel that it's got Hollywood backing. The rent is likely to come in without any problem, whereas the events industry has had nightmares the last two years with Covid.
"The concern is that we get another pandemic or large events can't go ahead in large numbers. The trust board wants to know the rent will come regardless of what happens."
The wait goes on to determine which way this will go - and in the meantime, events operators are left in the dark about whether they will even have a venue to put on their shows.
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The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am.
