Auckland mayoral candidates squabble over $3b waterfront stadium idea

An artist’s impression of the proposed Auckland Waterfront Stadium sunken stadium proposed in 2018. Image / File

Plans for a new $3 billion national stadium on land occupied by Ports of Auckland has sparked a new war of words between rival mayoral candidates Leo Molloy and Wayne Brown.

Only days after Brown called on Molloy to withdraw from the race following an expletive-laden appearance on a satirical television show, Brown accused the restaurateur of recycling bankrupt ideas with his stadium plan.

Molloy is promising a national stadium, aquatic facility and culture centre as the driver to pitch for the 2034 Commonwealth Games.

Brown has his own plans for the prime waterfront land occupied by Ports of Auckland, saying the company will pay the council $400m a year in rates and dividends on the $6b worth of land it occupies.

A waterfront stadium would put Auckland ratepayers on the hook for at least $3b, said Brown.

“Leo Molloy has never built anything that’s still around. Maybe bringing back Trevor Mallard’s white elephant (waterfront stadium) is one of his elaborate jokes,” he said.

Molloy said his experts, who he would not name, valued the port assets at about $11b and it was time the container part of their operations was reduced down to a 25ha footprint and the remaining 52ha is sold as a lease in perpetuity.

The proceeds, he said, would be ringfenced and used to develop global standard facilities to pitch for the 2034 Commonwealth Games.

When the Herald pointed out the main Fergusson container terminal at the eastern end of the port was 38ha, bigger than the remaining 25ha footprint in his plan, Molloy went back to his experts who agreed the full Fergusson terminal would remain a port operation until the port moved to the Firth of Thames.

Molloy said he had spoken with the Commonwealth Games Federation, sporting bodies and Ngati Whatua and was sending someone to the United States to evaluate similar projects.

“Auckland richly deserves a downtown 50,000 to 60,000 seat stadium.

“This is exactly the catalyst required to bring the beating heart back to the city, it’s a legacy project that will redefine this city as the Opera House did with Sydney,” Molloy said.

Auckland has a recent history strewn with failed stadium plans. In 2006, the city turned down a Government offer to build a waterfront stadium for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. In 2018, Mayor Phil Goff backed away from a central city stadium and plans by a private consortium for a stadium sunk into the harbour alongside Bledisloe Wharf sunk without a trace.

Brown said costs were hard to nail down, as the recent explosion in costs for the new Christchurch stadium showed, and put a conservative price tag of $3b on a new waterfront stadium. Molloy believed the cost of the stadium, aquatic facility and culture centre would be more than $3b.

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Asked how he planned to get the ports to pay the council $400m a year, Brown said he would tell the board “you are going to pay us $400m a year” which forces change, including the sale of land.

It would see the operations progressively shift to places where it makes sense, said Brown, saying the cars could go to Northport tomorrow where land is cheap.

“You can’t make money by emptying cars onto New Zealand’s most valuable land and not charge them anything to be there. If you don’t force them to pay something they will carry on doing it forever,” he said.

Auckland Council’s manager for council-controlled organisations (CCOs), Alastair Cameron, said the council cannot charge rates on land used as wharves under the Local Government Rating Act.

He said the ports company does pay rates on land used for other purposes, such as its corporate offices, car parking and storage. Currently, the port company pays about $1.1m a year in rates on this land.

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