Eyesore one part of Reading sell-off
Wellington’s Reading Cinemas site is being billed as New Zealand’s greatest development opportunity by real estate agents JLL.
A video promoting the site touts the 42.5-metre height limit which gives the site possible harbour views, as well as the complex’s location as the epicentre of Wellington’s consumer spending.
The 1.5ha of land – Reading and the two adjacent car parks – form one of the largest connected lots left in the central city.
The owners of Reading International have not responded to requests for comment about why the properties have been put on the market.
Earlier in the year the company was close to eking out a deal with the city council where the council would buy the land under the earthquake-prone cinema complex for $32 million, essentially loaning Reading the money required to strengthen.
The city would have been paid back once the strengthening was complete, in 10to15years.
Mayor Tory Whanau had described the deal as “fiscally neutral” and a necessary part of revitalising Courtenay Place – or else the cinema would remain an empty eyesore “looming glumly” over the city for decades to come.
At the time that the council cancelled the deal, Reading chief executive Ellen Cotter said in a statement that the cinema company remained committed to Wellington but was taking time to consider its options. “To say we are disappointed is an understatement,” she said.
The reason that the city council cancelled the deal remained unclear. A media release at the time said senior staff did not believe they would be able to reach the best possible outcome for Wellingtonians.
Just three months later Reading listed its Wellington site for sale – the latest in a series of sell-offs by the the NASDAQ-listed company. The sale has been welcomed as good news by Whanau, city councillors and businesspeople in the city.
The Courtenay Central precinct is not the only property Reading is putting on the market, suggesting the company was in a financially tight spot during negotiations on the deal with the council.
Shareholder Andrew Shapiro summarised the sell-offs in his latest newsletter to other Reading investors, saying it was part of an ongoing review of the company’s real estate portfolio. The Courtenay Place complex was on the market alongside a shopping centre in Townsville, Queensland, which is valued at $19m AUD.
An industrial property in Pennsylvania had been listed on the market earlier in the year, but it had since been removed, with the status of any development deals unclear.
The company has also started looking into selling a valuable property on Third Avenue in New York City’s Upper-East side, according to Shapiro.
With a rateable value of more than $55m, the Wellington land looked to be the most valuable asset Reading was selling so far.
Precinct Properties, one of the New Zealand-based developers most likely to take on the 1.5ha section, said in a statement that “it would be inappropriate for Precinct to provide comment” while the sale process was ongoing.
The city council will not get involved in the sale, a spokesperson confirmed earlier in the week.