After the closure of the Fortune Theatre in 2018 the council engaged theatre consultancy company Charcoalblue to look into viable sites for a new hub.
It came up with 14 site options ranked in order of suitability.
Most were new builds on car park sites, but refurbishing Sammy’s was ranked the No 2 option.
After discussing it in non-public sessions the council decided to consult the public on two options — its preference was refurbishing the Athenaeum, or refurbishing the Mayfair Theatre — which were ranked the fifth and eighth-best options respectively by Charcoalblue.
One option will be chosen and included in the council’s 10-year budget, to be decided later this month.
The hub is to include a 350 to 450-seat theatre and two studio spaces with a capacity of 150 people.
"It was not selected due to factors including the cost of redeveloping the larger auditorium space available at Sammy’s into a mid-sized theatre, together with other constraints."
He did not elaborate on the other constraints.
Responding to a question about future plans for Sammy’s, Mr Pickford did not give any specifics, but said the council would "continue to consider all viable options [for Sammy’s] going forward".
Councillors considered the top three options from the Charcoalblue report at a meeting in February last year, which included the Dowling St car park, the consultancy’s top choice, and the Filleul St car park, its third choice.
The car parks were each envisioned as the site of a new purpose-built theatre complex.
Mr Pickford said the two car park sites were ruled out because they had been scheduled for other development during the time the study was being written.
The Dowling St car park is to be the site of the new ACC building, and Filleul St has been proposed as the site of a new five-star hotel.
With two of the top three options off the table, the council requested a new report on four of the remaining options for a mid-size theatre alone, without the additional performance spaces.
The sixth-ranked Fortune Theatre refurbishment went on the shortlist with Sammy’s and the two options eventually selected.
This report was presented to councillors at a public-excluded meeting in December last year.
It was here that the final two options were agreed upon.
Wow Productions Trust chairman Marty Roberts said the presented options did not match with the expectations of other theatre industry figures he had talked to who were involved in initial consultation with Charcoalblue.
They had not been given an indication of what the council could afford, leading to "quite an aspirational view", Mr Roberts said.
"They were quite bold, grand visions ... but clearly somebody in the council didn’t say ... give us the options around what we can do with only $30million."
The two options presented in the draft 10-year plan were "a real misstep on behalf of whoever pushed that forward to the council".
A new round of consultation was needed with a wider cross-section of the local performing arts scene, including representatives of the live music industry, Mr Roberts said.
Mr Roberts attended two half-day feedback sessions as part of the Charcoalblue consultation process.
He said his impression coming out of them was that a new theatre would not solve the industry’s challenges on its own, but rather wider support for the industry was also needed.
"A bricks and mortar solution wasn’t necessarily seen as a single fix for what occurred at the Fortune Theatre."
The Charcoalblue study cost $343,000, $120,000 of which came from Creative New Zealand and the balance being paid by the council.
Creative New Zealand declined to comment on the specific options chosen, but gave a general statement about the study.
"We support the process undertaken for the feasibility study into future options for a theatre venue in Dunedin, and were pleased to be a member of the steering group for this piece of work," a spokesman said.
Charcoalblue is scheduled to deliver its next report to the council this month and will provide further analysis on both the Athenaeum and the Mayfair Theatre.
- By Andrew Marshall
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Comments
Bulldozer equals carpark problem solved, has anybody from the council actually looked at this dump and seen how hideous it really is?.
The DCC paid mega-bucks for Sammies, wont utilise it and dont even own the land! Another economic decision howler from Hawkins and his leftie gang.
Special interests' taking the rate payer for a ride. Why should we the ratepayer fund a concert, play or anything else? Let those attending pay for their enjoyment. Why should I & you? When will the milking stop?
Given how the DCC have just employed new managers, an iwi manager to oversee others, a principle policy climate change analyst with no experience and are planning on employing 5 or 6 more climate change staff, i would like to know how do they have no money to do ACTUAL work and services? One thinks Hawkins and his cabal of lefties are unable to act in the cities best interests but rather their own personal programme. Time to vote out Hawkins, bensonpope, walker and geary
Hear hear.
It wasn’t actually a decision of elected reps to buy Sammy’s, as far as I understand it. Maybe ODT could follow up on this and clarify what happened. It seems a bad precedent that could be learned from. Maybe never to allow such a significant purchase by staff, arguably without due diligence, to happen again.
Sammie's no parking, next to a state high way, cost to bring it up to any building standard, definitely not a good idea. But why did the previous DCC council even buy it? What use for it did they have in mind?
The first time I saw the matter of Sammy’s on a council agenda was when the full council was asked what they wanted to do with it (taking into account the considerable cost of earthquake strengthening). I wonder if the majority of the elected reps were as surprised to learn it had been bought, as I was. The CE has delegated powers to purchase property up to a certain value but you would think the need for and intended use of such property would be established before purchase. What’s wrong with this IMO is that it’s a non-democratic process. It should be the full council that makes decisions that are not clearly operational.
It was purchased for $125,000 at the insistence of the now mayor Aaron Hawkins.
And his lackey bidrose afaia.
Can someone tell what is wrong with the Fortune. I've been to a couple of shows there and had a great time. Better off throwing money at something that works than something that may works and paying someone to figure that out. The sooner this town votes in business people to run this town as a business, the better. NO MORE GREENIES!