Aquarium complex plan advances

Press, 6 September 1983, Page 7

Aquarium complex plan advances

The proposal to build an aquarium, tavern and restaurant on the New Brighton foreshore behind the clock tower moved a step closer yesterday.

After the architect for the scheme, Mr Miles Warren, outlined the proposal as it now stands, the Christchurch City Council’s policy and finance committee made several recommendations to enable investigations to continue.

If the project goes ahead, the developers should be given a renewable 21-year lease with a rent review every five years, the committee recommended. The rent should be deferred until the project was completed and then applied at a concessional rate for the first three years.

The committee recommended that the developers be allowed to make the necessary foreshore tests, provided there were no objections from the North Canterbury Catchment Board. It also recommended that council officers investigate the District Scheme changes necessary and report on

them to the City Council meeting in December. The proposal has been made by Goston Property Services, established by Mr Warren Goston, formerly the managing director of a development and construction company, and Realty Development Corporation, a subsidiary of the N.Z.I. South British Group and a big developer in the North Island.

It will use the site formerly occupied by the Shoreline nightclub. The site has been vacant since the club was burnt out several years ago.

The scheme was first outlined in April. It has since been expanded a little after the developers found that they had more land available than originally thought. The central feature is a large aquarium, with a main tank 12m in diameter and 3.3 m deep, similar to the Hawke’s Bay aquarium in Napier.

In wings on either side of it there are plans for a family tavern, family restaurant, tea-rooms, icecream parlour, souvenir shop, and a room for the

Pier and Foreshore Society to set up displays. On the roof, at secondstorey level, there would be a public observation deck.

Mr Warren told the committee that great care would be taken with the foundations to ensure that the sea could not undermine the building. He said that once the building was up the foreshore would be better protected than it ever had been.

Cr Maurice Carter suggested that the recommended rent reviews should be more frequent than every five years, and he also preferred a rent based on the liquor turnover. The council’s director of housing and property, Mr W. V. Morgan, said however, that the council was bound to base its rent on land value, with five-yearly reviews, by the Public Bodies this proposal. Lobby The committee accepted a tender of $14,221 from N. F. Adcock to build an extra lobby at the main entrance of the Civic Offices in Tuam Street to eliminate the blast

of cold air that enters the building during southerly weather.

The work will be done outside normal office hours to avoid inconvenience to the public and staff. With the installation of a new heater and other work, the total cost will be $17,521. Cr C. D. Close said that considering that the whole project to convert the building to the Civic Offices had been a very large one, costing $4Va million, there had been very few subsequent modifications. Grant The committee decided to give $BOOO to the Heathcote County towards its beautification scheme for the south bank of the Heathcote River. After a delay of 12 months, the scheme was due to begin next month, the committee was told. The project was estimated to take two years and would create at least 160 jobs.

The Christchurch Drainage Board has made a grant of $15,000 towards the project, leaving a shortfall at present of $24,000.