Cup village firm drops barge ideas

By BERNARD ORSMAN

The public owners of the exclusive yacht club set up on a barge in the Viaduct Basin for the America's Cup regatta have withdrawn an application to run it as a restaurant and function centre.

America's Cup Village (ACVL) chairman Peter Kiely said last night that the public body would probably announce the future of the barge within two weeks.

"Whatever it is, it won't involve ACVL."

The American Express Yacht Club, which was marketed for cardholders of the company as an "exclusive floating facility ... surrounded by the glamour and activity of the superyachts and racing syndicates," lost $4.1 million of public money.

Mr Kiely said that whether the barge stayed in the basin would be an issue for the new owner.

Opposition to the resource consent to allow the yacht club to operate as a restaurant and function centre for 10 years had no bearing on ACVL's decision to withdraw the application with the Auckland Regional Council, he said.

Meanwhile, Infrastructure Auckland has written down the assets of ACVL from $50.4 million to $42.9 million after ACVL - an Infrastructure subsidiary - repaid an advance of $7.5 million.

The two bodies are discussing a capital restructuring of ACVL.

It was set up with $85.7 million to develop the Viaduct Basin and run the Cup village during last summer's regatta.

ACVL, which has been left leasing seven syndicate bases and superyacht berths, is due to make a profit before interest and tax this year of $740,000, from total revenue of $2.2 million.