Dinner ... and the movies
International cinema owners wined and dined ahead of secret council land deal
Wellington City Council treated the multi-millionaire bosses of Reading Cinema to a lavish dinner, with almost a quarter of the bill for booze.
The Post revealed in November how sisters Ellen and Margaret Cotter, who head the family’s entertainment and real estate empire, flew to the Capital to meet secretly with new mayor Tory Whanau and council chief executive Barbara McKerrow.
The upshot was a controversial $32m deal for the cash-strapped council to buy the land under the vacant complex on Courtenay Place and lease it back to Reading for 21 years. Reading would then use funds from the sale to renovate the largely derelict building, which abruptly shut in 2019 after sustaining damage during the Kaikōura quake three years earlier.
Now, documents released under local government official information laws, show that meeting took place at Mt Victoria seafood restaurant, Ortega Fish Shack on October 18, 2022. That was four days after Whanau’s election was confirmed and she was yet to be sworn in.
Including Whanau, McKerrow and infrastructure head Siobhan Proctor, eight council representatives made up the party of ten. Ellen Cotter is Reading chief executive and president, and Margaret is the company’s board chairperson.
They dined on a $95 seasonal set menu, a $78 bottle of Pinot Gris, two bottles of Pinot Noir totalling $145, a $62 bottle of Chardonnay, two glasses of Viognier, and two lagers.
The total bill came to $1394.30, roughly equivalent to four months of rates for the average ratepayer.
The council said the Cotters initiated the four-day visit and it incurred no other costs. The sisters were treated to a tour of Civic Square, the St James Theatre and the new conference centre Tākina.
On their second day the Cotters met with McKerrow and Sean Grieg, city development manager, at the council’s Terrace offices, before the 6.30pm dinner. Dinner was provisionally booked for Havana Bar. .
Two days later, Grieg and chief financial officer Andrea Reeves, again met the sisters. Both had attended the Ortega dinner.
During the visit, the Cotters also met and lunched with Wētā FX and John Allen, chief executive of regional economic development agency WellingtonNZ. There were drinks at the QT Museum Hotel with Reading staff and a tour of the Queensgate Mall
In a statement, the council said the Cotters wanted to meet with officers to discuss “Reading’s future plans for the Courtenay Central Complex.”
“Wellington City Council has been working on securing a commitment and clarifying the future of the site for the last five years,” the statement said. “Our community continues to feel the ramifications of the empty
site which has become derelict over time and has been identified by the surrounding community and commercial developers as a site which devalues future development opportunities.
“Furthermore, it has been identified as having a significant impact on anti-social behaviour in the wider Courtenay place precinct.”
The meeting illustrated “the opportunities for market growth and build a confidence and a commitment to invest in Wellington.” The itinerary was designed to show “positive development” in the area.
Correspondence also revealed the council designed a glossy brochure ahead of the meeting, with six design options canvassed by staff.
A memo prepared ahead of the visit notes that Reading were playing hard ball on the future of the derelict site and “struggled to make the business case stack up for investment”.
The cinema chain expected a return on investment in the development over a certain period. “This is challenging in the current context of rising construction, materials and insurance costs,” the memo said.
Transport plan Let’s Get Wellington Moving and “Wellington’s specific idiosyncrasies” had “led to nervousness over what that change will result in, versus confidence in the opportunities it will enable”.
The cinema sits on reclaimed land and liquefaction has caused substantial damage to land and structures in the city.
In the month following her visit Ellen Cotter said the company planned “a topto-bottom renovation” of the theatre.
But privately, the company was telling the council it had suffered the double impact of a loss in revenue due to the closure of the cinema, then the Covid-19 pandemic. Its financial position meant the company was “unable to easily, independently fund the redevelopment in the near future,” The Post reported late last year.
The Cotters signed an MOU with the council in December 2022, but the council refused The Post’s request to make that public, citing commercial confidentiality.
It also refused to release any official advice or reports prepared following the October meetings nor any correspondence with the Cotters and Reading since their visit.
Secrecy has shrouded the deal, with the public shut out of any decision-making meetings by councillors. When details leaked of the proposal, Whanau initiated an investigation against five councillors, which failed to reach a conclusion and cost ratepayers $43,000.
The documents also reveal the cinema bosses met with then-Wellington Central MP Grant Robertson, then finance minister. Whanau and McKerrow were both present.
In statement, Robertson said his recollection was that it was a “relatively brief” meeting, where there was a general discussion about Wellington, the desire for regeneration in the city including through integrated development.
“I don’t recall any specific discussion about investment of public funds nor the council buying the land,” he said.
“I do not have a particular view on whether the council should buy the land and lease back. I do think, in general, it is important for there to be a vibrant, diverse and safe central city as part of Wellington’s development, including in the Courtenay Place area.”