Developer wants 30 flats at Arts Centre

Press, 24 July 1987, Page 5

Developer wants 30 flats at Arts Centre

By

KAY FORRESTER

The Wellington company which wants to build flats in the Christchurch Arts Centre is not interested in building new accommodation on the site.

Nor is it interested in the project if the 30 proposed flats cannot all be fitted into existing spaces. Mr Justin Prain, managing director of The Terrace Project, said in Christchurch yesterday that the profitability of the venture would be halved if the company had to build new accommodation.

The proposal for an apartment-hotel complex was viable for 30 units, but not for fewer flats, Mr Prain said.

"The costs and viability of the project have been worked out for that number. Any less and we could not justify staff and so on — so we are looking at 30.”

Mr Prain attended yesterday’s meeting of the Arts Centre Trust Board to answer questions about his company’s proposal to use attic and first-floor space for one-bedroom and two-bedroom fiats for people staying up to three

months. The proposal was first put to the board at last month’s meeting by the Arts Centre director, Mr Christopher Doig. It is the subject of a feasibility study which is not yet complete.

Board members were given an interim report on the study yesterday by Mr Don Donnithorne, the board’s architect and a member who has temporarily withdrawn while he is involved in the study. Mr Donnithorne said he had surveyed all the spaces in the Arts Centre with some care and fitting the 30 units in was “eminently possible.”

It could be done without prejudicing the integrity of the Arts Centre buildings, he told members. In fact, there would be virtually no change to the exterior of the buildings.

Mr Donnithorne said he had noted the inclusion of fire sprinklers into the centre as part of the project. They would greatly improve matters as they would reduce costs in meeting other fire provisions and also make egress provisions easier. The sprinklers would be hidden completely in

some cases and run along roof trusses in others.

Mr Donnithorne said the feasibility study would be ready for next month’s board meeting. Board members asked about the possibility, suggested by a tenant at the centre, of building new accommodation on the present car-park.

Mr Donnithorne estimated that would double, or even triple, the cost of the project.

Mr Prain said his company would have to own land before it would contemplate a new building on it. He said after the meeting that the company was not interested in building new units. Under the present proposal the Wellington company would not own land or units in the Arts Centre. It would lease the flats from the centre and would rent them out to tourists and others for periods from a night to three months.

The scheme would be administered by the wholly owned subsidiary of the company, City Life Apartments, which rents the units in the company’s Wellington apartment project.

The tariff at the Wellington units ranges from $155 for one night to $125 a night for a month. Mr Prain said he hoped the Christchurch tariff could be a little lower than that, but he could not comment on what it would be. Neither could he give an over-all figure for the cost of the development until matters had been finalised. "There are still some things to clear up but it looks promising,” he said. The board’s chairman, Mr Peter Dunbar, noted that matters were still “in the exploratory stage.” The proposal is for areas in the clock tower, the Hight block, the old arts schools, the chemistry block, and the physics block to be used.

Mr John Allison, a board member, felt the clock tower building should not be considered. He asked about free or discounted accommodation for visiting artists.

Mr Prain said at least one artist did stay at the Wellington units at a concession. There could be a policy announcement by the company soon about discounts for artists at the company’s units.