Whanganui’s 144-year-old Repertory Theatre building to be offered to current tenants for $1

The cost of demolishing the Repertory Theatre building is estimated at $170,000. Photo / Bevan Conley

Bulldozers will not be coming for the Repertory Theatre any time soon after Whanganui district councillors agreed to sell the 144-year-old building.

Closing the theatre for demolition was the council’s preferred option in its Long-Term Plan (LTP) consultation process, with 46 per cent of public submissions (655) backing it.

Thirty-two per cent (450) supported investing in permanent stabilisation of the bank behind the building so it could be sold, 7 per cent wanted the bank stabilised and a new theatre built and 7 per cent wanted something else.

Whanganui Deputy Mayor Helen Craig and councillor Michael Law put forward an alternative motion during deliberations on the LTP, offering the existing tenants - the Repertory Theatre - the building for a nominal price of $1.

The council would also stabilise the bank within a timeframe agreed upon with the purchaser.

Craig said while the building was old and past its use-by date “in modern terms”, it had been well-used by the current tenants for a long time.

“They have expressed a desire to purchase this building,” she said.

“I know their finances, and they are quite capable of starting restoration and raising the money to restore it.

“We are not just kicking an asset down the road. We are putting it in very capable hands.”

Elected members voted unanimously in favour of Craig and Law’s motion.

Whanganui Deputy Mayor Helen Craig. Photo / Bevan Conley

Repertory Theatre president Mark Morton said the organisation was delighted by the news.

“The only real elephant in the room is getting that bank done and the timing around it,” he said.

“We have done all the background work and would love to put in some consents tomorrow morning, but we can’t actually do that.

“Getting insurance and things like that are dependent on the bank being fixed. Fingers crossed, we can get it over the line reasonably soon.”

Council property and open spaces general manager Sarah O’Hagan said the council made a similar deal for the Savage Club.

That building, at Pukenamu Queen’s Park, was sold to the Savage Club for $1 in 2005 and the Whanganui Musicians Club bought it for the same price in 2015.

The estimated cost of retaining the wall behind the theatre is $200,000, with demolition estimated at $170,000.

Morton said the first port of call was fire escapes and exits, followed by “making our entrances and egresses much more friendly than they currently are”.

“Then, we have got plans to do the foyer and make it bigger.

“We would really like to have a cathedral front - take out the ceiling in that area and take it right to the top.

“There are four or five projects we can start to price up as soon as we’re ready.”

If no purchaser is secured within 12 months, the council will begin the consenting process for demolition.

O’Hagan said that was more than enough time to work through an agreement.

Craig said the council had undertaken minimum retention of the bank over the years but the issue needed to be solved long-term.

Whanganui prided itself on its heritage, she said.

“If we went to a resource consent - publicly notifiable - that said [the] council wanted to demolish a heritage building, what sort of message [would that send] the rest of our building owners who have heritage buildings and are finding it tough?”

Morton said the organisation had been inundated with congratulations since the council vote.

“We are going to have a few open days, so people can come down and see the theatre and see what we are going to try to do to it.

“There will be architectural plans available and visuals of what we think it will look like in the future.

“Some people who are not involved in the theatre may say, ‘You could do this, this and this’, and it could be something we never thought of for a second.”

Shows were already booked up and three new playwrights were keen to put on plays at the theatre, he said.

The next show at the Repertory Theatre is The Addams Family in October.

Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present, his focus is local government, primarily Whanganui District Council.