The Carisbrook Stadium Trust has been promised $13 million from the sale of corporate suites and "lounge club memberships'', trust chairman Malcolm Farry said yesterday, the first indication of substantial private funding for the project.
The trust is endeavouring to raise $45.5 million as the private sector's contribution.
The trust plans to travel through Otago and Southland next month to seek more money for the stadium and could add more corporate suites if a satisfactory business case can be made.
Meanwhile, planning for the stadium will continue, despite one leaseholder at the site having not yet reached an agreement acceptable to the Dunedin City Council.
The council's finance and strategy committee voted to note a report yesterday, after a discussion mostly held in private.
No decision was made whether to use the Public Works Act in an attempt to resolve the matter, an option raised on Sunday by Mr Farry. It is understood it was not debated.
Mr Farry said last night financial commitments were made after the trust took its products of suites and "lounge club memberships'' to the public earlier this month. Club membership gives access to a bar and restaurant, as well as a seat.
While the money was yet to be collected, "those people wouldn't be making those promises if they weren't serious about it'', he said.
The report said options had been placed on all corporate suites available. There are 29 corporate boxes at Carisbrook, but there will be only 18 suites at the new stadium. Mr Farry said there could be more, depending on the cost of building them, and the demand.
In the public part of yesterday's meeting, Mr Farry said he was dealing with somebody who wanted to buy 100 seats, which would add $1.5 million to capital funding.
Asked by Cr Dave Cull how binding the commitments were, Mr Farry said, "At this point they are just expressions of interest''.
They would become binding some time in May, but would still be conditional on the stadium going ahead.
The report said $6.5 million of the $13 million would go towards capital funding, or building the stadium, and $6.5 million towards operational revenue.
The report said agreements relating to land "have now been executed'' following approval from Mayor Peter Chin, deputy mayor Syd Brown, and council chief executive Jim Harland.
Asked whether the remaining leaseholder who had not come to an agreement could derail the process, committee chairman Richard Walls said after the meeting there was nothing that could not be resolved.
He said yesterday's meeting had not been a deadline for the trust, as had been reported.
"It's a case of handling it day to day from now on.''
The council resolved (9-3) on March 31: "That the council notes that the mayor, deputy mayor and chief executive have advised that they are presently unable to confirm that property contracts are satisfactory in all respects to enable the council to meet its commitments arising from its previous resolutions, and authorises them to continue to obtain the necessary information to ascertain whether the conditional property agreements for the Awatea St stadium meet council requirements and are satisfactory in all respects, and report back to the next finance and strategy committee on 28 April, 2008.''
