1. The plan they turned down <\/p>\n
Proposal for a stadium with hospitality precinct and museum on the Wynyard Quarter waterfront.<\/p>\n
\n This is
\n a proposal for a stadium and concert arena on Wynyard Point, on the Auckland waterfront. Very cool? I think so. But it\u2019s not going to happen.\n <\/p>\n
Or to put that more accurately, there are no official plans to make it happen. The proposal was rejected by Auckland Council<\/a> in 2024 when it opted instead to support the development of Eden Park in Sandringham. <\/p>\n But no convincing explanation for this rejection has ever been given and the group behind the Wynyard proposal has not given up. <\/p>\n Richard Dellabarca, who heads the group, says if the city wants economic development, \u201ca stunning iconic asset all of the public can access and use on the waterfront\u201d, this is an excellent way to do it. <\/p>\n His plan has evolved to include not just a stadium, but a large hospitality area, sheltered parkland and a new museum on the site of the Viaduct Events Centre. That building, he says, is a \u201ctotally underused asset\u201d that is likely to be used even less when Sky City\u2019s International Convention Centre opens next year. <\/p>\n Entertainment, hospitality and culture, all in one \u201cmassive\u201d and beautiful waterfront precinct. <\/p>\n \u201cHow many tourists would we get coming to and staying in Auckland?\u201d he asks. \u201cHow many events? How much economic activity would that infrastructure generate in the short and long term? How much vibrancy would we finally bring to what is a dead waterfront?\u201d <\/p>\n I want to say there\u2019s an element of hubris that gets in the way when anybody says, \u201cThings were dead until I came along.\u201d <\/p>\n Auckland\u2019s waterfront has had nearly 30 years of becoming undead: Sir Peter Blake kicked it off<\/a> in 1995, with a vision for the then-neglected Viaduct Basin as host venue of his defence of the America\u2019s Cup in 2000. More than four million visitors turned up to spend money in the Viaduct during that campaign. <\/p>\n But I think Dellabarca is right to say the precinct now needs to grow again. He\u2019s right that it won\u2019t happen just because luxury apartment blocks and corporate headquarters are steadily filling the Wynyard Quarter. <\/p>\n He\u2019s also right that the key to success will not be sports and concerts, or bars and restaurants, or a museum, but a combination of them all. <\/p>\n And he\u2019s absolutely right to ask why the council has been so airily dismissive of his plan. It ticks a lot of boxes. <\/p>\n The transport logistics are especially good, with trains, buses and ferries all within walkable distance. And because that walk would take punters through the hospo district, it feeds the larger economic goals of the project. <\/p>\n Is it the money, then, or is it something else? <\/p>\n It\u2019s worth remembering that the favoured option of Eden Park 2.0, with a retractable roof and new grandstands, will not be cheap. <\/p>\n The budget is $532 million, but that estimate is over two years old now. It\u2019s less than the cost of Christchurch\u2019s new OneNZ Stadium, which was fixed at $683m in 2022. It\u2019s not clear how Auckland could build a larger stadium than Christchurch, several years later, for a cheaper price. <\/p>\n The global architectural firm Populous did the original designs for the Christchurch stadium and also designed the Wynyard proposal. Dellabarca says it estimates the new Eden Park could cost \u201cin excess of $1 billion at current prices\u201d – although that has never been the position of the Eden Park Trust Board. <\/p>\n We don\u2019t know where all the money for Eden Park 2.0 will come from, but we do know ratepayers and taxpayers are already on the hook. <\/p>\n Further, while Eden Park loves to call itself \u201cthe national stadium\u201d, nobody gave it that name. It is owned by a private trust, albeit with some Government involvement, and sits on private land. The beneficiaries of the trust are not the city or the nation, or even any national sporting bodies. <\/p>\n The beneficiaries are Auckland Rugby and Auckland Cricket, both of which could fit their biggest crowds into a stadium the size of, oh, I don\u2019t know, a revamped Western Springs. <\/p>\n Dellabarca says his group\u2019s own proposal makes better financial sense because developing the wider precinct will bring in a commercial return. Eden Park doesn\u2019t have access to any other land or leases to do this with.<\/p>\n If Eden Park 2.0 is not the cheap option, why is it preferred? <\/p>\n Partly because Eden Park and its trust board are very good lobbyists. But the larger reason seems to be that Wynyard Point is already spoken for. The council has its own plan to sell half the site for private residential development and create a headland park at the northern end. <\/p>\n That plan, called Te Ara Tukutuku, was created by Eke Panuku, the council\u2019s \u201cplacemaking agency\u201d, which steered the council away from seriously considering Wynyard Quarter as a stadium site. <\/p>\n But the mayor and council abolished Eke Panuku this year and allocated much of its work to a new Auckland Urban Development Agency inside the main council operation. <\/p>\n Will Te Ara Tukutuku survive the transfer? It\u2019s a test for the new council, to be sworn in next week. <\/p>\n 2. Another nice thing we can\u2019t have <\/p>\n This is a photo of another remarkable building we\u2019re not getting in Auckland. <\/p>\n It\u2019s the new Sydney Fish Market, due to open next year, with the market itself, shops, hospitality and entertainment facilities. The point here is that while Auckland dithers, our rivals in this part of the world do not. <\/p>\n Our own waterfront development, as I said above, has evolved over 30 years. That\u2019s good. But it\u2019s not good enough. The same has happened in coastal cities everywhere, often at a faster pace with more striking results than our own. Sydney is a global leader. Wellington has always been better at it than Auckland. <\/p>\n 3. What about a museum, then? <\/p>\n Here\u2019s another wonderworld we\u2019re not getting. It was dreamed up in 2011<\/a>: a museum of the natural world, peoples, cultures and technologies of the Pacific, right there on the waterfront. <\/p>\n The thing about stadiums is that even the most active programming still leaves them empty quite a bit of the time. But museums do the business every day and all year round. <\/p>\n Dellabarca\u2019s concept is to put \u201ca modern Te Papa\u201d where the Viaduct Events Centre is now, to create a cultural precinct with the nearby Maritime Museum and ASB Waterfront Theatre. <\/p>\n It\u2019s not a new idea. The 2011 image above is from the report<\/a> of the Te Papa North Planning Group, chaired by renowned arts consultant Hamish Keith<\/a>. <\/p>\n The vision was spectacular and the council agreed. In 2012, it adopted the Auckland Plan, a 30-year vision for the Super City that had formed two years earlier, with Wynyard Point earmarked<\/a> for a \u201csignature building\u201d, likely to be a museum. <\/p>\n But there was a rival plan for Te Papa North, to build it in Manukau. And then, before that debate could be resolved, Government funding for the whole idea was withdrawn. Not long after, Waterfront Auckland, precursor to Eke Panuku, started work on Wynyard. And somewhere along the way building a new museum on the headland or anywhere else got too hard. <\/p>\n It\u2019s still in the Auckland Plan, but nothing\u2019s being done about it.<\/p>\n 4. Another great museum proposal<\/p>\n Yep, here\u2019s another great idea no one is planning to build. <\/p>\n Te Waka Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa began life in 2020 as the LegendNZ Centre<\/a>: a waka-shaped museum on the headland with a focus on the Pacific. In effect, it was the inheritor of the dream of Te Papa North. <\/p>\n Architect Lindsay Mackie of the firm Archimedia called it a \u201cuniversal vessel\u201d. It\u2019s been through a few iterations<\/a>, always looking and never quite managing to find traction. Stuck, as Dellabarca\u2019s stadium was, because Eke Panuku had its own ideas. There\u2019ll be more to come on this project soon. <\/p>\n Mackie and Dellabarca both want to realise their dream in the same place. But does there have to be a loser? Perhaps the wider waterfront is big enough for both of them. All they need to do, first, is knock Eke Panuku\u2019s Te Ara Tukutuku out of the way. <\/p>\n 5. A good place for a park? <\/p>\n And here it is: Te Ara Tukutuku<\/a>, the officially approved plan for Wynyard Point. Grassy knolls, bush, jetties and little beaches, a place to walk and explore, on land and on the edge of the sea. <\/p>\n I love the sound of that. But not there. I go out to that headland quite often, to soak it up, check the weather, hunker down out of the wind. Seriously, it\u2019s a silly place for a park. Always windy, and if there\u2019s any rain in the city, in my experience that\u2019s where it\u2019s likely to be. <\/p>\n On current plans, the council will be spending $300m on site development, a third of it on the park and the rest to prepare the land for the developers. Who are likely to build around 600 luxury apartments. Gotta say, the new owners will have a great place to walk their dogs. <\/p>\n If the city went with Dellabarca\u2019s plan, though, we\u2019d get a covered stadium and an outdoor amphitheatre for watching SailGP and other yachting events, in sheltered park surrounds that draw on some of the work done for Te Ara Tukutuku. <\/p>\n He reckons Diwali, the Lantern Festival, Pasifika and the like would also find a good home there. <\/p>\n 6. Praise for those who came before <\/p>\n And here\u2019s a photo of what we really did get. It\u2019s Victoria Park, on Sports Day in 1907. <\/p>\n What I love about this photo is the way it speaks to the future. All that flat land is reclaimed: the city planners were committed to long-term public good. They were busy building houses and factories but they also built a park, in a place where it would thrive and be well used. <\/p>\n And although it was barren in their own time, they knew it would not stay that way. <\/p>\n In the foreground, on the near side of the path, there\u2019s a row of wooden frames, each with a sapling in the middle. Those are the plane trees that now make Victoria Park one of the loveliest places in the city. <\/p>\n You know that saying about true leaders, who plant trees they know they will not live long enough to sit under? Those guys probably invented it. <\/p>\n Inspiring, eh, all you new councillors? And you older ones. And you in the Government. It\u2019s your job to get Wynyard Point properly sorted. Because this is the country where we\u2019re learning to say yes, right? <\/p>\n What\u2019s wrong with RONS? <\/p>\n The Government\u2019s Roads of National Significance (RONS<\/a>) are back in the news, with new costings from the NZ Transport Agency showing some significant blowouts. And the new numbers are still, in many cases, early-days estimates. <\/p>\n The biggest single cost is State Highway 1 from Wellsford to Whang\u0101rei, part of the Government\u2019s promised four-lane highway from Auckland to Northland. <\/p>\n An alternative route to the Brynderwyn Hills is now included, bringing the estimate to between $15.3 and $18.3 billion. <\/p>\n There\u2019s a good argument for finding a more secure route around, over or even under the Brynderwyns, but it\u2019s surely now obvious it should also be as cost-effective as possible. And that means rethinking the whole four-lane highway promise. <\/p>\n For safety and efficiency reasons, roading improvements are needed along that whole route, most notably through the Dome Valley. But there are far cheaper ways to do it. <\/p>\n I\u2019ve said it before, but why aren\u2019t we getting the Swedish 2+1 approach? With wire median barriers and, in effect, a long series of passing lanes, first in one direction and then the other. You\u2019d think a Government committed to more roads and to \u201cfiscal discipline\u201d would be all over that. <\/p>\n The Mill Rd RONS has also blown out. Mill Rd runs from Takanini to Drury and the plan is to make it a second highway almost exactly parallel to the existing Southern Motorway. <\/p>\n This relates directly to the issue that has recently been exercising the minds of many Aucklanders who live close to town: density in the villa suburbs. <\/p>\n If you were looking for evidence that sprawl is bad and density around train stations and town centres is essential, Mill Rd is it. <\/p>\n It\u2019s intended to serve the fast-growing suburbs springing up all over the once-green fields from Papakura to Pukekohe, and stage 1 was promised by National at the last election, with a price tag of $1.3b. That\u2019s now grown by somewhere between a third and over a half, to $1.75b-$2.05b. <\/p>\n There are other plans for transport in this area, involving four railway stations and several feeder bus routes, and that\u2019s great news. Auckland Transport is seriously engaged in trying to make public transport in the far south of the city work. <\/p>\n But single dwellings stretching over hill and dale in all directions will never provide the patronage needed for properly efficient buses and trains. Cars will keep clogging up the roads, and the more roads they build the more that will be true. <\/p>\n And the costs of those roads? The developers and new homeowners won\u2019t be paying. We all will. <\/p>\n This is what those RONS do. They don\u2019t manage sprawl, they enable it. It is the theory of town planning that took over Auckland in the 1950s and led directly to the appalling congestion, emissions and air pollution of the car-dependent culture we have today. <\/p>\n And it\u2019s expensive. The Government\u2019s RONS are now priced at $50b, and counting, because up-to-date costings have not yet been released for all of them. <\/p>\n Transport, Housing and RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop<\/a> has a good handle on how density can be done well, but he\u2019s also a fan of sprawl. It defies logic. <\/p>\n As for the East-West Link, the RONS proposed for enabling efficient freight haulage between Penrose and Onehunga, that\u2019s jumped from the election promise of $1.9b to around $4b. <\/p>\n Mayor Wayne Brown says we should spend the money on rail, and transport far more freight that way. He\u2019s right. <\/p>\n Dancing with Mr P <\/p>\n Here\u2019s something to ease you into summer. Michael Parmenter<\/a>, one of the fabled generation of dancers this country produced back in the day but not really so long ago, is running free social dancing events in Ponsonby. <\/p>\n Good at it already? You\u2019ll know what to do. Two left feet? The ever-graceful and super-friendly Parmenter will sort you out. <\/p>\n Every second Sunday, starting this Sunday, October 26, 4pm-6pm, at Te Rimutahi, the new urban park on Ponsonby Rd. <\/p>\n Every other Sunday, there\u2019ll be live jazz. The programme runs till Christmas. <\/p>\n Papatoetoe at a \u2018turning point\u2019: The local election result <\/p>\n The Indian Weekender, a leading newspaper for Indian-New Zealanders, has weighed in on the controversy over voting for the \u014ctara-Papatoetoe Local Board<\/a>. <\/p>\n As the Herald has reported, the chief electoral officer for the Auckland Council election has received complaints alleging electoral malpractice and has lodged them with the police. The complaints allege theft of ballot papers and standover tactics used against voters. <\/p>\n The allegations are aimed at the Papatoetoe-\u014ctara Action Team, whose candidates Kunal Bhalla, Kushma Nair, Sandeep Saini and Paramjeet Singh won all the seats in the Papatoetoe subdivision election for the board. <\/p>\n \u201cWe categorically deny any involvement in unlawful or unethical conduct,\u201d Kunal Bhalla has told the Herald<\/a>, on behalf of the group. <\/p>\n In a measured and insightful editorial, the Indian Weekender has called on community leaders to \u201cshow that values and ethics matter\u201d. <\/p>\n The editorial is headed, \u201cWhy the Alleged Vote-Stealing in Papatoetoe Threatens the Mana of Kiwi Indians\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cThis isn\u2019t the first time Papatoetoe has found itself in the spotlight for the wrong reasons,\u201d it says. \u201cA little over a decade ago, the same suburb was at the centre of New Zealand\u2019s first ever electoral fraud case<\/a> that involved a senior Sikh leader and resulted in convictions.\u201d <\/p>\n The paper says \u201cmemories linger\u201d and new allegations \u201cdon\u2019t land in a vacuum, they plug straight into a ready-made narrative that is unforgiving\u201d. It calls this not just a legal issue but a reputational one. <\/p>\n \u201cEach episode chips away at the hard-earned trust the community has built in wider New Zealand society.\u201d <\/p>\n But, says the paper, \u201cWhile the community naturally wants answers, it must also remain fair.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cThe smarter approach is to trust and follow due process, ensuring that allegations are properly investigated and judged fairly, rather than rushing to conclusions.\u201d <\/p>\n Then it calls on leaders in the Kiwi Indian community to step forward. \u201cIf the perception grows that a community tolerates or shields wrongdoers, then the standing of every honest, law-abiding member is eroded, however unfair that may be.\u201d <\/p>\n The paper also warns of a \u201cgenerational cost\u201d, saying it\u2019s important that young Kiwi Indians learn the right lessons and not the wrong ones. Community leaders \u201cfrom religious institutions to cultural groups to business networks\u201d must \u201cshow that values and ethics matter\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cA strong, unequivocal denunciation of alleged electoral fraud sends two messages at once to the wider public, first \u2013 that the community values fairness, and second \u2013 to those tempted to cheat, there\u2019s no cover waiting for them.\u201d <\/p>\n The paper says, \u201cThe stain of electoral fraud doesn\u2019t have to define a community. It can be a turning point if handled with honesty and courage … By standing firm on principle, not personality, the community can turn a moment of embarrassment into proof of its democratic maturity.\u201d <\/p>\n To sign up for Simon Wilson\u2019s weekly newsletter, click<\/a> here<\/a>, select Love this City and save your preferences. For a step-by-step guide, click<\/a> here<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"1. The plan they turned down Proposal for a stadium with hospitality precinct and museum on the Wynyard…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[95,51,2199,7502,3685,6043,6044,78,2882,6048,111,43,6042,139,69,49119,422,26108,6046,6045,73562,6037,16674,49026,223,1961,6047,6039,5905,6041,6040],"class_list":["post-100547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-and","tag-auckland","tag-city","tag-dancing","tag-events","tag-exploring","tag-ideas","tag-in","tag-love","tag-makaurau","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-papatoetoe","tag-pictures","tag-plus","tag-potential","tag-reality","tag-rons","tag-simon","tag-stadium","tag-tale","tag-the","tag-this","tag-tmaki","tag-transcript","tag-vote","tag-weekly","tag-wilsons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} The new Sydney Fish Market, scheduled to open in 2026.<\/p>\n
Concept artwork for a Te Papa North Museum, 2011.<\/p>\n
Te Waka Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa, a museum and exhibition centre proposed for Wynyard Point. Photo \/ Archimedia<\/p>\n
The proposed Te Ara Tukutuku park at the end of Wynyard Qaurter.<\/p>\n
Sports day, Victoria Park, 1907. Photo \/ Auckland libraries<\/p>\n
Chris Bishop (left) with his boss, Christopher Luxon. How will they pay the ballooning cost of RONS? Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n
Michael Parmenter, back in the day. It will be him, but the Sunday dance sessions won’t be like this. Photo \/ Kenny Rodger<\/p>\n
Papatoetoe: sleepy sometimes, but not right now if you’re involved in local politics. Photo \/ Google Images<\/p>\n