Aucklanders will have a say on plans for a 12,500-seat stadium or a Ponsonby Rugby Club/music venue at Western Springs. Video / Dean Purcell
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown was holidaying in Fiji when news filtered through to his office that the billionaires and rich-listers behind a new “Auckland Arena” at Western Springs Stadium were bailing on the project.
The mayor’s office was given a heads-up by the council agency Tātaki Auckland Unlimited (TAU) lastThursday, as per a no-surprises policy, and details were provided on Monday, a mayoral spokesman said.
Brown was on holiday at the time, and the first formal briefing he received on the matter was through a memo that went to all councillors on Tuesday.
The Auckland Arena backers informed the Tātaki board on July 2 that they were formally withdrawing their concept for Western Springs.
The Auckland Arena was proposed by Auckland rich-listers Anna Mowbray and Ali Williams, and American billionaires Bill Foley and Bennett Rosenthal, with the idea of building a new home for Auckland FC at no cost to ratepayers.
It was pitched to cost between $200 million and $300m and boasted a 12,500-seat rectangular stadium with a prominent outer bowl that would accommodate an additional 25,000 spectators for live concert events, along with commercial and community facilities.
Ali Williams and Anna Mowbray had been backing the proposed Auckland Arena at Western Springs.
Brown has yet to comment on the withdrawal by the backers of the Auckland Arena.
Tātaki board chair Vicki Salmon said the withdrawal was disappointing.
“They were putting in money. We don’t have that money as a city to do that. It would have been great,” Salmon said.
Western Springs Stadium. Photo / Jason Dorday
The Auckland Arena was not a clear favourite with Aucklanders. Feedback released by Auckland Council on Tuesday showed that more people wanted to explore other options for the site or back a bid for a Western Springs Bowl, which would host the local rugby club and concerts.
The arena proposal was up against a joint bid from the Ponsonby Rugby Club and music promoter CRS Records.
That group wanted to extend its current occupancy and expand operations to other sports, while enabling the venue to host 50,000-capacity concerts through redevelopment of the site. It required $30m of private investment and a request for ratepayer funding of $18m-$20m.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Auckland Arena backers said delivering their project on public land “presented unique challenges” and claimed there were “extended timelines and complexities”.
Asked to expand on these statements, a PR spokeswoman for the backers yesterday said: “Nothing further from the team, sorry.”
Tātaki declined to say what it knew about the reasons for the late withdrawal.
Ponsonby Rugby chairman Greg Edmonds said TAU should honour the process and recommend its proposal to the council’s governing body.
TAU said it will no longer make a recommendation to the governing body on July 31 as planned, but will delay advice until after October’s local body elections.
Western Springs Speedway Association spokesman Jason Jones said the process lacked transparency, fiscal detail, and clarity in the way the three options were presented to the public for feedback.
“TAU and the council have swayed everything in favour of Auckland Arena,” he said.
Jones said the process should have been paused until a judicial review brought by the association over the lawfulness of the council’s decision last October to move the motorsport from Western Springs is heard in the High Court at Auckland.
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