{"id":123247,"date":"2025-11-07T17:31:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T17:31:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/123247\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T17:31:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T17:31:19","slug":"reading-cinema-eyal-aharonis-50m-redevelopment-to-open-on-courtenay-place-by-2027","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/123247\/","title":{"rendered":"Reading Cinema: Eyal Aharoni\u2019s $50m redevelopment to open on Courtenay Place by 2027"},"content":{"rendered":"

\" Eyal Aharoni is strengthening and redeveloping the long-shuttered Courtenay Pl Reading Cinema Complex.<\/p>\n

It will see Reading Cinemas return as the key long-term tenant alongside a \u201creimagined mix of entertainment, retail, and hospitality offerings\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

Another objective is to link Courtenay Pl with the T\u0101kina convention centre behind it, by acting as a thoroughfare through to Wakefield St.<\/p>\n

Inside, the building remains largely unchanged, with the old popcorn machine still in place and movie posters from 2019 lining the walls.<\/p>\n

\"AbandonedAbandoned food stalls still remain in the Courtenay Pl cinema Complex which was closed in 2019.<\/p>\n

Having been closed for a number of years, some of the cinemas have been infested with mould, with chairs and curtains now removed.<\/p>\n

The six-month seismic strengthening project, which Aharoni initially projected to cost $10m, has increased, with Primeproperty now planning to spend $27m, followed by an internal fit-out, partially paid for by Reading and other tenants.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a $50m project\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

The rich-list developer has pledged to strengthen the building to 70% of the New Building Standard (NBS), despite a Government change rendering those standards redundant.<\/p>\n

\"PartsParts of the closed Reading Cinema Complex have been gutted.\"OldOld movie posters remain on the walls of the derelict Reading Cinema.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s optimistic it will help revitalise Courtenay Place by drawing people in, but said more must be done to breathe fresh life into the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s certainly going to help, but Courtenay Place needs more than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The planned cinema offering includes 10 theatres, including premium, large-format Titan screens, similar to IMAX.<\/p>\n

The ground-level retail and hospitality offering will also include an arcade, similar to Timezone.<\/p>\n

\"OneOne of the soon-to-be redeveloped cinemas inside the Courtenay Central complex. <\/p>\n

Aharoni said Reading\u2019s selection of the buyer for the site \u201cwas not about the best price, it was the best outcome\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cI understand there were offers which are higher than us, Reading decided to go with us because Reading wants to stay on the site.\u201d<\/p>\n

Profitability was not a key motivator, Aharoni said, admitting \u201cit\u2019s not going to be a highly profitable project\u201d, but he decided to take it on out of a desire to revitalise the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s our neighbourhood,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are Wellingtonians, we think it needs to be open again and that\u2019s what we want to see happening.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ethan Manera<\/a> is a Wellington-based journalist covering Wellington issues, local politics and business in the capital. He can be emailed at ethan.manera@nzme.co.nz<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eyal Aharoni is strengthening and redeveloping the long-shuttered Courtenay Pl Reading Cinema Complex. It will see Reading Cinemas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":123248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[18516,86207,86206,3595,9719,5199,86208,86209,86205,59965,111,43,139,69,90,5493,6744,2171,1111,1233,1230,61,8238,102],"class_list":["post-123247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-18516","tag-50m","tag-aharonis","tag-by","tag-cinema","tag-complex","tag-courtenay","tag-derelict","tag-eyal","tag-landmark","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-open","tag-place","tag-plans","tag-reading","tag-redevelopment","tag-reopen","tag-to","tag-under","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123247","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=123247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}