$40-45 Million Soccer Specific Stadium - Petone Phoenix

Hopefully with some pointed questions and letting them know how some of the fans feel about this.

I'd like to help but I am not in the "in club".

Well, well, well, maybe the bluff had some effect after all:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/10137399/Stadium-does-the-numbers-on-100m-lid

$50k feasibility study for roof plus potential seating changes for rectangular field sports... this will be much more expensive to the average wellingtonian, and will almost certainly be paid for by hutt city rate-payers as well, since they'll likely be part of the 'super city' by the time any of this gets up and running. 

Anyone who submitted or complained about the Petone Arena based solely on money is about to get a rude awakening!

Most complaints were solely on NIMBY though, not $$$.

To be honest, it would be a better solution if it can be done. I'd sure pay $10-20/yr more in rates to make it happen.

Isn't it the regional council, not Wellington City Council, so HV ratepayers contribute regardless of a future supercity or not?

Seems the cost of the new roof could be about the same as the planned Petone Stadium.

Maybe if Gareth paid for the roof, he could get the naming rights: 'Westpac Phoenix Arena' anyone?

Could be wrong but I thought this was the case too. I thought that was one reason why HV ratepayers were upset, because they already subsidised Westpac Stadium through the regional council contribution.

I would love to see all those whom apposed the Petone Arena having to pay for this. Gonna cost them a lot more than if they had not apposed Petone. I laugh at them and believe in Karma.

Never built anything with a constraint on budget have you Ryan

It wasn't an absolute essential then and it isn't an absolute essential now. Hardly think there's egg on anyone's face over this (in terms of the original stadium planners I mean).

Temporary seating to make it rectangular on the 364 days per year where they're not playing cricket would be awesome though.

Just for the record stadium owner is  

Would be good if they could obscure the main stands like they do at vector arena when its not full. And enclose the smaller rectangular seats.

New seating, great.

But No! Dont put a roof on it.

They are saying to build a roof the stadium would need to be closed for 1 year!

What would that mean for the Nix?

Hmmm...you could build a temporary one , in , say ....Petone ?

Likely, but not certain.

The fact that it has Regional in the trust name doesn't mean everyone pays equally.

The stadium has on its balance sheet a good lump of debt in the form of limited recourse loans.

Those loans are from Wellington Regional Council (so Petone residents contribute through HCC), which everyone expects, but there is a second (almost as big) loan from Wellington City Council. Petone residents pay nothing towards the cost of that debt.

Who knows how a roof would be funded. Perhaps Wellington CC will see it as an investment in keeping events near to the City, and fund it in some significant way purely through Wellington ratepayer contributions. As the balance sheet shows, this is anything but a far fetched notion.

http://westpacstadium.co.nz/assets/Documents/WRST-AR13.pdf

A bit of further colour: 

The development of the stadium was partially funded by the Wellington city council ($15 million) and the Greater Wellington 

regional council ($25 million). The funding was by way of unsecured limited-recourse loans. No interest has been charged 

on these loans by the councils.

Imagine if when the lid was closed it exposed a big picture of Gareth Morgan!!...or a Cat. ;)

I think the idea behind a full roof is so the stadium can host concerts with more certainty. I think the prevailing though will be that its more prudent to build an indoor arena for a much lower cost. I tend to agree. 

You mean an increase of the number they've had? Should've had Sprinsgteen here, The Eagles but no, they're not that friggen intelligent.

I'm sure they'd have them here if it were feasible or possible. 

Tui Ad time?

I agree with JD. You try to take what you have and adapt it to cover everything I think because real estate in Wellington is not exactly lying about. At least in Auckland we can bulldoze a couple of stadiums and have that space. At the moment there is a cricket and AFL oval. If we can make that suit rugby, league, football as well as host indoor concerts then you cater to a lot more of a market and then increase you 'days used' for the stadium and start recouping cash. Granted you are not likely to see an increase of 'days used' by league, rugby and football but once you start hosting more concerts that can hold a greater number of folk.... I guess it then comes down to a return on investment or cost to benefit study.

Ah ok. I was meaning more the design than actual use.

Considering it hosted 1 AFL game a year and its hosts 2-3 cricket games a year (Basin reserve?) I would suggest that the proportional usage would lend towards sports that require a rectangular shaped field so..... why did they build an oval again?

Extract from South Wairarapa District Council Rates notice 2012/13 - WRST is still funded regionally

Officially dead...

http://www.huttcity.govt.nz/en/Your-Council/News-and-notices/Latest-News/Lack-of-community-support-drives-Petone-Arena-decision/

Funding for the Petone Arena proposal has not been included in Council’s Annual Plan after a lack of support was shown by the community during consultation.

Mayor Ray Wallace today commended the Community Facilities Trust (CFT) and Welnix Director Dr Gareth Morgan for “bringing the proposal to the Council table” but said he could not ignore the “strength of public opinion”.

“As Mayor I pride myself on listening to the people I represent; to me that’s part of democracy. I also pride myself on considering opportunities that have the potential to bring economic benefit and push our city forward.

“It would be a sad day for Lower Hutt if proposals such as Petone Arena were never put up for discussion simply because they generate strong views or force us to think differently about the future. I thank the CFT and Dr Morgan for their vision in putting this proposal in front of us to consider.

“We’ve heard from many different people during consultation on Petone Arena and the discussion has been robust. The feedback though has been overwhelmingly similar with the majority of those who’ve had their say, clearly against it.

“As one of the strict conditions we imposed on the proposal was a satisfactory level of community support we will not be providing funding to progress Petone Arena.

“My vision for our city continues to be a great place to live, work and play both today and tomorrow, and as a council we’ll continue to be open to ideas that help us achieve that.

“The Petone Arena discussion has uncovered fantastic information about aspirations and needs in the Petone community and I look forward to working with the people of Petone and the CFT to explore these further.”

Public opinion is such bs when that opinion is a result of the spread of misinformation and hatred toward a sport. 

It should be about the facts, whether its good for a region, not the opinion of a vocal minority. 

Saying "it would be a sad day if proposals were never put up for discussion because they generate strong views" at the same time as you reject an idea because it generated strong views is also bs.