General Mt Smart Stadium
- Thread starter wizard of Tauranga
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John Nick
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MSS was a greyhound track originally iirc
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John Nick
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In the 69/70 era I was working for Freightways in O,Rourke road and went a few times to the greyhounds after work.
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That article was pro that option, it needs someone independent to assess all 4 options and really delve into the red flags for each option.
Hopefully someone in council has the time and resources to get into those details and issues.
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It'll be that 20k is the smallest configuration.
From there they can open up each "upper" stand as required. Using Mt Smart as an example, once all the Lower stands and North/South stands sold out, they would open the Upper East Stand. Then Upper West Stand if needed.
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For clarity, I am 200% pro CBD stadium.
I just saw it mentioned in a non Warriors forum that Warriors fans would be reluctant to move from Mt Smart.
I didn't think it was the case, but thought i would ask
Some might be reluctant. If you have a routine on how you get to Mt Smart and that needs to change that would need some rethinking. I'd be surprised if the majority of the season ticket holders don't carry on to the new stadium which should have a better viewing experience.
I'd imagine the people living close to Mt Smart it would be a case of buses leaving from Mt Smart to start with.
Moving to a new purpose built stadium should increase crowd numbers. The challenge is sustaining them, that comes with winning. Getting to a centralised stadium should be easier as in theory the public transport should head towards the city centre.
When it came up in 2011 it would have worked out well for me as I had a job with a car park provided. It would have been a big walk after the games to the top of Queen Street. But it still would have been an easy commute. Now it would be a case of getting dropped off at the local bus station and head into the city as opposed to a few other rides by bus or train now.
Until we get approval on plans and financing. It may even take getting the work started for me to get too excited. This comes up multiple times a year like the new harbour crossing. It's starting to wear a bit.
Worried2Death
Contributor
Any idea when this project would be finished and game ready if it were approved?Auckland stadium development: Downtown plans revealed for precinct at Quay Park
The consortium behind a proposed new stadium precinct in Auckland’s Quay Park believes the development will provide transformation “on a global scale” for the city.
The detailed plans - unveiled for the first time by the Weekend Herald - include up to four hotels - among them a signature All Blacks hotel integrated into the stadium, along with bars, restaurants and retail outlets, commercial office space and scope for about 2000 residential apartments, framed by public plazas and park areas.
Anchoring the precinct is the spectacular 50,000-seat stadium (which can be scaled down to 20,000 capacity for smaller events) with a unique sculptured design inspired by Auckland’s isthmus and cultural heritage.
And rather than inward facing like many stadia, it looks out towards the Waitematā Harbour, with a panorama of Rangitoto. The stadium, which also features an “accordion” style retractable roof, has an iconic look that designers hope in time could become Auckland’s equivalent of the Sydney Opera House.
But the backers of the Te Tōangaroa bid are emphasising substance as much as style. They see the stadium as an enabler for a complete regeneration of the eastern end of the waterfront, bringing activity, focus and economic development.
The arena will be the central focus of a new 15ha urban neighbourhood, bordered by Spark Arena and Quay Street, on Ngāti Whātua land, in the old Auckland Railways yard.
Former Warriors chief executive Jim Doyle, who heads the consortium, says the stadium will be a game changer.
“The stadium represents the very best of who we are as New Zealand and Aotearoa,” Doyle told the Weekend Herald. “But more than that, this is transformation on a global scale. It’s not just a stadium, it’s an entire precinct. The economic development it creates will be massive and is going to drive a significant difference to the city and the country.”
The Te Tōangaroa proposal is one of four pitches under consideration by an Auckland Council working group, who are expected to make a recommendation by the end of March.
The others are the 70,000-seat “sunken stadium” at Bledisloe Wharf, complete with a floating roof, along with the 55,000-capacity facility at Wynyard Point, which also features an indoor arena and outdoor amphitheatre. The fourth option is Eden Park 2.1, with a roof and three new grandstands.
The potential of the Te Tōangaroa bid has attracted some big global players in the stadium industry.
Goldman Sachs – the second biggest investment bank in the world - is a partner in the consortium. They were behind the construction of Tottenham Hotspur’s new facility in London, along with numerous arenas in Europe and the US.
Renowned architectural company HKS, whose recent award-winning projects include the SoFi stadium in California and the US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, are also on board, along with British infrastructure investor John Laing Group, who backed the development of Optus stadium in Perth.
The consortium also includes global and local experts in planning, engineering, infrastructure, environmental impact and Kaupapa Māori.
As revealed by the Herald last December, New Zealand Rugby are also backing the proposal and are part of the consortium.
As the landowner, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei is the key stakeholder. While they are yet to officially commit to an agreement, it’s believed they have been part of the process.
According to Doyle, the Quay Park site has numerous positives. He points to the access – near convergent points for buses, rail and ferries and complimentary to the new City Rail Link. And although it is a downtown option, it wouldn’t be built on prime waterfront land, unlike the other two city centre proposals.
“That’s an important difference for us,” said Doyle.
The site was identified as the optimal area for a central city stadium in a 2017 feasibility study conducted by PWC, on behalf of Regional Facilities Auckland, which assessed five options, including Bledisloe Wharf, Wynyard Point and Victoria Park.
Creating the best possible fan experience has been a key driver. While that includes the essential elements - such as an elevated seating pitch, the closest possible proximity to the field of play and easy flow around the facility - the consortium has also taken a broader view.
“The fan experience begins from home,” said Doyle. “It’s getting to an event, what you do pre-event, the event itself and then what you do post-event and then getting home... that is all part of it. We like to talk about the ‘last mile’. Look at what is available to everybody that is coming to an event within a mile, compared to other existing stadiums around the city.”
Doyle said that while preliminary costings have been done, the full financial equation wouldn’t be known until the plans are confirmed. The majority of investment will come from the private sector - with significant overseas interest already - though both council and government will need to contribute “in some form”.
“This will be a much cheaper option than doing nothing and eventually having to spend whatever it is - a billion or a billion and a half - on Eden Park,” asserts Doyle. “If the council do nothing, at some point in time they will have to spend a lot of money on essentially having the same as they have presently got.”
“This will cost significantly less because we will put together a private-public partnership (PPP) because of the residential, commercial, hotels and everything else. “We know for a fact - from a council and government point of view - building this will be cheaper and have much better outcomes all around – than it will be to do nothing and eventually have to write a big cheque for Eden Park.”
Doyle, who has also held key roles at the NRL and New Zealand Rugby League, has been working with local stadiums’ specialist Paul Nisbet on the proposal since 2021. Before becoming a consultant, Nisbet was a stadium director at Regional Facilities Auckland and Auckland Unlimited.
“The city deserves a world-class stadium,” says Doyle. “So do the All Blacks, the Blues, the Warriors, the Auckland A League team and any other sporting franchises. We want Auckland to have a lot more events and our sporting teams to be successful. This is about what we can do now, for generations to come.”
Exclusive: ‘Transformation on a global scale’ - plans revealed for new downtown stadium
The proposed stadium will be the central focus of a new 15-hectare urban neighbourhood.www.nzherald.co.nz
Pipedream…… the land is owned by Ngāti Whātua Ōrāke who haven’t committed to the project let alone decided what the ground rent would be. How can anyone come up with a business study when they have no idea what one of their largest annual expenses would be?
Also, there has been no site plan given so, although it pretty AI produced pictures, there is no indication of how much land would be required, what would happen to the rail lines, to Quay Street, to the wharf area. TBH, there Isn’t enough land there without removing the old Railway Station which is a protected building.
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Didnt the new A League billionaire owner say he wanted a new stadium built and finished for the start of their 2nd season?? So that’s about Oct ‘25 by his wishful thinking. Obviously never dealt much with NZ bureaucracy
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The 2017 proposal was based on a photo of Suncorp superimposed over the railway land. The problem was, to fit the stadium in, the size of it was adjusted and the stadium to fit over 50,000 was smaller than the next door Spark Arena which could only hold 10,000…. in fact, the pitch size on the “plan” presented to Phill Goff, and released to the media, was closer to a tennis court than a rugby/league/soccer pitch.
It would be interesting to see a site plan showing where it would be sited, how Quay Street might be affected, how much land the POAL would lose, what would be done about the train tracks to the Britomart station and how the leasees in leasehold properties will be effected.
The reason while the approach into Britomart is so important is because the tunnels leading into it were built then new buildings added on top. This is because all the land from Fort Street to the harbour is reclaimed and large buildings there require massive piles into the reclaimed soil and down to the bedrock to distribute the weight and loads of a building on to “solid ground” capable of holding the building. When newer buildings such as Countdown and the Wespac building were provided, their columns and piles were designed to avoid the rail tunnels.
The problem is Spark Arena, the historically protected old Railway Station and the apartment buildings on Te Taou Cresent…. they were never designed to have their foundation systems undermined for locating currently above ground rail tracks into below ground tunnels for the western/southern railway line to Parnell.
Also, not just the southern and western line services would be disrupted, but also the eastern line as it would need to run underground too. At the moment, there’s around 600 metres of tunnel required before the tunnels “flatten” out for the Britomart Station where, according to the AT site, they are 14 metres underground. That 600m of gradient would need to be flattened out to allow for the train track tunnels to pass at least 10m under a new stadium. This would make the existing eastern approaches into Britomart unusable for a long period of time.
While people on the southern line could be diverted to the western line at Mt Eden, the new CRL isn’t designed to take volume of people and the eastern line would mean people would need to travel south to Otahuhu, change to a southern line to either Newmarket or Mt Eden, and then go through the CRL to the city.
Then, if you can overcome the problem of the size of the land required for a new stadium, four hotels, office towers, apartments and restaurants the consortium is saying it will provide, there’s then the issue of the land. As the landowner, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei simply just can’t say to apartments owners (including the owners of the student accommodation in the historically protected old Railway Building), shops, offices and townhouses that they want the land back to allow a new stadium to be built. The leasehold arrangement can sometimes be over 100 years.
Matiunz
Contributor
It’d give the Warriors a higher profile and make them more accessible to greater Auckland having the downtown stadium. However, you still have a crowd pining for Carlaw park but that will die off within a generation. I’d say convincing the establishment to give up Eden park will be the greater challenge.
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Is that practical with the size and weight of the thing?
Wasn't some apartment block or hotel built on one of the wharfs sinking or moving?
I want a new stadium but the sunken one and the ones over the water just start ringing alarm bells for me
