The cogs are turning for the possible sale of Dunedin’s Fortune Theatre building.
A former advocate for the theatre says a sale would save it from a fate of demolition by neglect.
The Dunedin City Council, which took ownership of the building in 2018 and added it to its list of strategic assets, will consult early next year on its 10-year-plan.
The draft plan no longer lists the Fortune Theatre building as a strategic asset.
At a meeting of the full council this week, Cr Steve Walker drew attention to the fact the building was no longer listed as a strategic asset "in preparation for a potential sale of that asset" and asked what the timeline around that might be.
Council chief executive Sandy Graham responded that after the 10-year-plan consultation was completed, the council would consider the options for the building.
"It’s likely sale would be one of them, noting the physical features of the building are well protected," she said.
"The building no longer forms part of the thinking for either of these, so we’re proposing to remove it from the list," the spokesman said.
"This will be subject to consultation on our 10-year-plan, so we’ll have more to say after that."
He did not answer questions about, were the draft plan approved, what the process would be before the building went on the market; when the council would meet to discuss its options and if it would consult the public on those options or how long the process would take.
The Stuart St building — the former home of the Trinity Methodist Church — dates to 1869 and is registered as a category 1 historic place.
It has been closed since May 2018, when the board of trustees decided the professional theatre company was no longer financially viable.
Council staff had monitored the state of the building since then and carried out essential work to protect it.
A detailed seismic assessment for the council in 2011 found it was not earthquake-prone.
Cr Carmen Houlahan said when the Fortune Theatre closed, it created a "huge gap" for professional theatre practitioners in the city.
She said $17million had been allocated in the council’s budget to go towards a theatre.
Contacted after the meeting, Friends of the Fortune former secretary Moira Styles was ambivalent about whether the building was sold, but said something needed to be done.
"You can’t just sit on buildings for years and do nothing. you have to [have] a strategy.
"The worst possible thing is destruction by dereliction."
Stage South Charitable Trust chairwoman Clare Adams said as time went on, it seemed more likely the building would not live on as a theatre.
"The [council] has obviously got these buildings that it hasn’t made decisions on, I suppose it’s got to make a move at some point."
She said the Dunedin theatre community remained concerned Dunedin still did not have a mid-sized venue.
Fortune Theatre former artistic director Jonathan Hendry said it was not a surprise the council was considering its options for the building, given it had been vacant since 2018 and how much work would be needed to make it fit-for-purpose as a theatre.
A sale would be good if it would lead to a more suitable venue in the future.
"My concern is that there needs to be some investment as soon as possible in actually creating a suitable fit-for-purpose medium-sized venue for live performance in Otepoti Dunedin."
If the council did choose to sell the building, Mr Hendry said he hoped the money would be channelled into realising the vision of such a venue.
