Historic Christchurch theatre to be sold by council
Photo:
Supplied
The historic Odeon Theatre in Christchurch is to be sold by the Canterbury Regional Council, which purchased the quake-damaged building in 2020.
The council bought the Category One Historic Places building, along with the neighbouring Lawrie & Wilson Auctioneers building and several other nearby parcels of land.
At today's council meeting, councillor Nick Ward said about $8 million had been spent on the site, including the purchase price, maintenance costs and the cost to stabilise the earthquake-damaged frontage of the theatre.
The Odeon Theatre is the oldest masonry theatre in New Zealand having been built in 1883 and is a Historic Places Category 1 building.
One of the most notable uses was for the public meetings held in 1893 when Kate Sheppard led the campaign for women's suffrage from Christchurch.
The building is currently partly-demolished, and propped up.
The Lawrie and Wilson's building is a Historic Place Category 2 building, built in 1910.
That building has now been restored and is being rented out as a office space.
The buildings and land neighbour the Canterbury Regional Council headquarters.
Inside the Odeon Theatre.
Photo:
Supplied
When the council purchased the buildings, it said it wanted to enable flexibility for future developments, preserve historically significant buildings and control developments around its headquarters.
The council staff report said in 2023 the council put the site out to tender for a long-term lease, but was unsuccessful.
The report said holding on to the land parcels would have ongoing costs, including interest on borrowing, rates and about $350-400,000 a year in maintenance.
It noted that the development of CBD commercial land was not the council's core business.
The report recommended the council sell the sites, but also presented options to hold on to the sites, or lease them out for development.
At today's council meeting the council voted to sell the sites, with the proposal supported by 15 of the 16 regional councillors.
Councillor Joe Davies - who was the only councillor to vote against the proposal - said he thought the central city land was strategic, and the council should keep hold of it.
Councillor Ward said he had a love of old buildings, but a commercial decision needed to be made.
"I know what it has cost us to date, and it is around $8 million. So the sooner we can move on and sell the Odeon and square up the parcel of land next to it, the better for all of us. It's not our core business. Sometimes the first loss is the best loss and you just have to move on."
The council report said an external report had confirmed that the likelihood of the Odeon having its heritage protection removed, allowing its demolition, was very low.
The council voted 15-1 to sell the parcel of land.
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