Reverse pub crawl set for April

The historic Birdcage Tavern. Photo / Paul Estcourt

A pub tenant is being sought for Auckland's historic Birdcage Tavern near Victoria Park.

The old brick building, shifted up Franklin Rd last year while the Victoria Park motorway tunnel was being dug, will be moved back down the road in the next three months.

Work on the massive cut-and-cover tunnel has got to the stage where pub owner the New Zealand Transport Agency is looking towards the end of the job.

It is calling for a tavern tenant and wants to open discussions on signing a lease, particularly to a business operator interested in catering for Rugby World Cup visitors.

Tommy Parker, the agency's state highways manager for Auckland and Northland, said his organisation was keen to hear from hospitality operators wanting to be involved in the pub's fitout and prepare for the international visitors arriving this winter.

"We're trying to attract a tenant because it would be a shame to spend all that money moving it and not have it used," he said.

The Birdcage job cost about $2.5 million, far less than an initial budget of $8 million to $10 million.

Extensive engineering and building work has meant the pub was probably one of New Zealand's strongest historic buildings, Mr Parker said, as so much plywood, reinforcing and steel were used to prepare it for its move up, then down, the road.

The Birdcage, previously called the Rob Roy, is not for sale and the agency wants to hear only from potential tenants. "We need to retain the freehold because it sits above our tunnel but we are looking to lease the Birdcage, which will be shifted back in April," Mr Parker said.

If tenants present themselves soon, they could influence where internal fittings and fixtures went.

Two levels could be leased, with the possibility of bed-and-breakfast operators being interested for short-stay accommodation on the upper level, Mr Parker said.

"We're looking at how we are going to fit out the inside and my preference is to get a tenant so we can do a fitout together and get it open and running for the Rugby World Cup.

"Maybe we have to do a short-term lease for the cup and negotiate a longer team lease for a more permanent tenant later. Running pubs is not really my business but it's amazing what this job throws up," Mr Parker said.

The building's move back down Franklin Rd is scheduled for early April and will take about a day.

The tavern was in the path of the 450m three-lane, one-way northbound tunnel so had to be moved and will be restored.

Wendy MacGregor, a leasing specialist at Match Realty, said the Birdcage would be extremely popular.

"I'm doing all the North Wharf and we've just got that totally leased as a new waterfront hospitality precinct," she said of 10 tenancies in the Sea+City project at Wynyard Wharf.

Bars and restaurant operators saw the cup as "two Christmases in one year", she said.

In another big project step at the Victoria Park tunnel motorway job, a temporary tent is coming down near the Victory Christian Church.

The gigantic rigid-frame structure was built in St Marys Bay to contain smells, dust and contamination from the project site, once home to industrial uses including a gas works.

The area is surrounded by residents, including dozens of people in the Beaumont Quarter. Mr Parker said Auckland Regional Council conditions meant the tent was mandatory but contractor Mainzeal managed this part of the project.

Foundations have been laid inside the tent for a new multi-level carparking building for the church because its land was used for the motorway project.

THE BIRDCAGE

* Built 1886 as the Rob Roy Hotel.
* Originally on waterfront pre- reclamation.
* Owned by NZ Transport Agency.
* The agency is looking for a tenant for the tavern.
* It is to be moved back in April.