Plans for new $78m Tauranga venue shut down - for now

Tauranga Arts Festival director Jo Bond is disappointed in the council's decision to hold off planning for a new performance venue. File photo/George Novak

Plans for a $78 million performance venue three times the size of Baycourt have been put on ice.

On Tuesday Tauranga City Council's city transformation committee voted unanimously against budgeting $40m in capital funding - the council's half of the cost - for the project. The other half was expected to be funded through grants and other sources

They also declined to spend $500,000 on a detailed business case, resolving instead to revisit the project in 2021.

They elected to hang on to a piece of council-owned land at 91 Willow St - space earmarked for the venue - until then.

Their decision came in spite of a consultants' report that found there was a strong case that Tauranga needed a medium sized venue, seating 1500 to 1600 people, now.

They also found there was a "window of opportunity" in the market and Tauranga was missing out on productions that wanted to come here but could not.

According to the report, Baycourt, with 582 seats, was so busy it regularly had to turn down commercial and community shows. The new venue was intended to operate jointly with Baycourt.

Tauranga Arts Festival director Jo Bond was "very disappointed" in the decision.

"I think they should do a proper business case and make a decision based on that."

The venue could have been a cornerstone of a rejuvenated CBD, and putting it off was a "missed opportunity".

Big productions - ballets, full orchestras, musicals - did not come to Tauranga because the venues on offer were too small for them to make a profit, she said.

Councillors were keen on the idea of a larger venue, but agreed the city could not afford it right now.

Committee chairman Larry Baldock said timing was the issue. The budget for 2018-2028, currently being drafted, was already full of major capital infrastructure projects of greater priority.

"I do not feel we can responsibly advance this project at this time."

Baycourt manager Megan Peacock Coyle said the decision was not unexpected given the scale of work that needed to be done in the CBD, and the importance of the museum and library project.

Buddy Mikaere, a non-voting member of the committee, was disappointed and had hoped the council would be "a bit more bold" and match population growth with growth in cultural facilities. He believed tangata whenua would support an earlier move towards a new performance venue.

Tauranga Musica chairman Barry Ward said it was a "pie in the sky" idea.

"I don't think we need to provide it right now."

New performance venue cost estimates

An indicative business case for a potential new performance venue by consultants Horwath HTL gave these cost estimates:

- $500,000: detailed business case
- $78.4m: anticipated cost to design and build new venue
- $40m: council contribution - rest to come from other funders
- $4.4m: annual operating cost

Source: Indicative business case for Performance Venue/Tauranga City Council