Why I didn't vote to stop the Reading Deal.

A bit of background - Is Courtenay Place really a priority?

After the pipes?and the climate - the next most commented thing?is city revitalisation. This is echoed by many businesses in the Courtenay Precinct and the whole city, who have been saying we need something to happen with Reading -Courtenay Central. We must also find?ways to work on the challenges the city has.

In public participation, we heard how detrimental the perceived safety issues are to attracting people there and therefore to business. That having the entertainment hub back ( with potentially the 6000 per day footfall that it had) which would include families, rangatahi and tamariki will bring a much-needed diversity in the range of people and provide a place that doesn’t focus on drinking alcohol.?

Also in the development community, the certainty of something happening with Reading will bring investment, i.e. potentially new businesses, markets, hotels, homes, (that we need), and current landlords will be more willing to re-invest in their places.

We all agree that something has to happen.

What’s the current plan for Reinvigorating Courtenay

As a city, we’ve invested in Tākina, the St. James and the Hannah Playhouse this has certainly helped with bringing more people.

It's also the quarter with the most theatres, Te Papa, the best dining, it is the entertainment precinct for Wellington. With all of this, it should be great for all ages and stages but it’s not.?

The planned building blocks to bring the buzz back to Courtenay Place? are?

• Upgrading the Courtenay Section of the Golden Mile
• The Courtenay precinct?plan which involves greening, cleaning,?safety ambassadors and hopefully night markets.
• Safer streets - through Pōneke Promise?
• The District Plan - will enable?more people to be able to live in the central city

But one of the biggest building blocks is needing to re-invigorate the Dark Shadow of Reading Courtenay Central

So why did I not vote to?

1. Timing / We need to do something now?
2. Certainty = More Investment,??
3. We need to innovate to take the city forward

Timing- the sooner we get on with something, the sooner we get the buzz back. By early 2027, Courtenay Central could be strengthened, re-designed and open. And with that timing certainty comes other investments that bring people and business.

And speeding this up means that once Reading buys back the land we also make over $1 million in rates revenue per annum.

Or?

we could not do anything and let this trail off into never never land with no statutory requirement for the owners to do anything until 2035.

Certainty?=?Investment.?We heard from Crowne Property that there is demand but it is all on hold waiting for what’s happening with Reading. A certain decision will mean more investment for hotels like Tryp to open in the area, especially with the?new conference centre?Tākina. Also, certainty means local building owners will have reason to plan much-needed building upgrades.

Or?

We could wait and keep losing these development opportunities to other cities.

We need to Innovate and be a good partner/ collaborator to take our city forward

We can not rely on borrowing on ratepayers to get things down for our city. If we want to take Wellington forward we need to think of innovative solutions like this. And we need to work with the private sector, government and not-for-profit sectors to get good outcomes for our city.

So the way we are doing this is by?swapping land assets by selling ground leases that are not performing as well, and buying the land from Reading to get greater outcomes for the city. This is at no cost to the people of Wellington.

We also need to remember that Councils do deals like this around the world to get good outcomes for their cities. In Wellington, the council has done other deals with the private sector like Chews Lane?and Te Kianga?which has provided over 200 new homes in the city and is aiming for 1000.

We need to Innovate more on how we get things done for Wellington

Or we can not try to do anything and not gain opportunities for Wellington.

Why we didn’t take the offer from Sir Mark?

It wasn’t our offer to take. Reading doesn't want to take this offer because it is a purely commercial offer with terms that are?hard for them to meet.

Yes the council terms are easier as it has not been negotiated as a pure commercial deal, but is seeking greater outcomes through the design process, for Wellington's people and businesses by reinvigorating the Courtney precinct.?

Our reason for doing this is to breathe life back into an entertainment hub that will bring more people back ( it was 6000 peeps per day) that will help our other local businesses, make the place feel nicer and safer, provide?certainty that will attract future investment in the housing, hotels, markets and a much-needed diverse range of businesses in the area.

It is not the best building, or the best business or the best commercial deal, but it is the hand we have now.

We could get something happening now or wait, wait, wait.

I’d rather see the city trying to do something to rejuvenate the Courtenay precinct that will take the city forward as soon as possible at no cost to ratepayers than do nothing. And that is why I did not vote to stop the deal.