Arts Centre expansion plan

Press, 25 September 1987, Page 5

Arts Centre expansion plan

By

KAY FORRESTER

combinliion of 2 the'tw ‘ he Chris ‘ cl,urch Arts Centre board flats in ‘he centre is a

Sixteen single and two-bedroom apartments would be fitted into the existing buildings of the centre and another sixteen built from scratch on the old geography department site under the proposal. The Arts Centre director, Mr Christopher Doig, put the proposal that was drawn up by a Christchurch architect, Peter Heaven, to the centre’s trust board yesterday. It is a variation on a proposal already before the board for 30 flats in attic and first-floor space at the centre. That proposal, from a Wellington company, The Terrace Project, has raised the ire of centre tenants who claimed they had not been told about it. Mr Doig will call a meeting for Monday of craftspeople at the centre to

talk about the new proposal, which the board felt had merit and deserved further investigation. Mr Doig said details of the new proposal had been put to representatives of The Terrace Project, whose board would consider it at its next meeting. The proposal for 32 apartments would provide much needed revenue and provide an improved and better maintained site, he said. He estimated the project would cost about $2 million, similar to the cost of the original proposal from the Wellington company. Under the proposal less than 3 per cent of existing floor space in the old buildings would be turned into apartments, he said. The 16 new apartments

would be built above new craft and retail space at the eastern end of the Arts Centre. That area now houses the caretaker’s cottage and prefabricated buildings. Those tenants in the prefabs would be rehoused in the additional craft space the proposal provides for. “The Arts Centre will, in fact, gain space for its increased craft activity, have that space financed through the joint venture and therefore be able to provide it relatively inexpensively to its craft tenants,” Mr Doig said. The buildings which would be used under the new proposal are the old Arts School (eight flats), the refurbished Hight Building (five flats) and the old Registry (three flats) at the corner of

Montreal Street and Worcester Street If the new proposal was approved — and Mr Doig said that was some way away — the Arts Centre would borrow the money for the development It would own the new buildings and would contract out the running of the apartment complex to The Terrace Project “Obviously we would not consider the project without knowing the interest of The Terrace people. We need their management skills,” he said. Several areas had still to be Investi- . gated. These included town-planning implications, accurate costings and the financing of the project Mr Doig said he hoped the board would be able to make a final decision at its next meeting.