Avon Theatre site Up suggested for tower

Press, 18 March 1988, Page 10

Avon Theatre site Up suggested for tower

i The Avon Theatre in Worcester Street was suggested as a better site for the observation tower by an objector to the Victoria Square proposal, Mr Greg Clydesdale.

) “This site has more tourist pedestrian flow going past it than any other in the city, including Victoria Square,” Mr Clydesdale said.

) “It is located on that vital stretch linking Cathedral Square to the Avon River. It is on the principal route to the Arts Centre, Botanic Gardens, and museum. It is next door to the new Clarendon Hotel building and just across the road from Noahs Hotel and only 30 metres from the Tourist Information Centre.”

The ;site was strategically located and would harmonise well with other tall buildings in the area. Nearby) buildings would be the | same age, and so the tower would not be built 'out during its life.

Mr Clydesdale suggested five other alternative inner-city sites for the tower: the corner of Cashel Street and Oxford Terrace; the corner of Worcester Street and Monteal Street; the corner of Gloucester and Montreal Street; sites along Oxford Terrace east of Victoria Square; and beside the City Mall. Mr Clydesdale said he doubted the amount of strictly new economic activity that would be gener-

ated by the tower. “The only new activity that the tower brings is the tower lift itself. If the tower gets 350,000 visitors a year, at $4.50 a. ticket the net impact to the region will be about $4.5 million, not $22 million,” he said. This figure included a “flow-on” effect.

If the Christchurch tower received the same percentage of patronage from residents and tourists as the Calgary tower in Canada, only about 80,000 people would use the tower each year. "In other words, to be profitable our tower has to be four times more successful than the Calgary tower,” Mr Clydesdale said.