Stop the Stadium

http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/35751/desperate-plea-sell-stadium-seats

by David Loughrey, Otago Daily Times, 12 December 2008

Carisbrook Stadium Trust chairman Malcolm Farry has made another call for stadium supporters to buy seating packages if they want the stadium to go ahead, as the deadline for the trust to raise private sector funding closes in.

The trust has 50 days to sell 500 lounge memberships - for $1500 plus GST a year - that chairman Malcolm Farry yesterday said would take it to its private sector fundraising target of $28 million by February next year.

The original lounge membership agreements had been rejigged, with a shorter commitment term of five years and an automatic right of renewal, plus a later date for the first payment.

The idea was to make it easier for businesses and individuals to sign up before February, Mr Farry said.

Under the new option, the first payment would not be due until just before the planned opening of the stadium in 2011.

Asked why agreements were changed, Mr Farry said it was hard to get people interested in paying before the stadium was built.

People paying for seats at Carisbrook under the original arrangement would have had to pay for two years’ seating packages at the same time.

“We tested it on a few people - they said it makes a difference.”

Those who had already signed could exchange for the new contract.

“That should provide the reassurance businesses need to commit in a period of some economic uncertainty.”

Mr Farry put the trust’s private sector funding tally so far at $19.8 million, though not all of that was signed.

The amount came from $6.8 million of signed commitments for lounge memberships, corporate suites and open club reserves, up from $6.3 million on November 26.

To that, Mr Farry added $3.5 million for corporate suites, which, though not signed, were “pending finalisation” and $9.5 million in sponsorship funding “in advanced discussions”.

Asked about the figures, he said only the $6.8 million was actually signed, but “it would be inappropriate to leave that as a bald figure” because the trust was in the process of finalising contracts.

“I would expect that all to be signed up by January, if not sooner.”

Mr Farry said many stadium supporters appeared not to realise the importance of the February target, and needed to understand they had to commit to memberships before then or they would put at risk funding from the Dunedin City Council and Otago Regional Council.

“It is up to the community, individuals and businesses, to seize this opportunity and commit now to purchasing memberships.

“Only then can we ensure construction can start next year in time for the stadium to be ready for 2011 Rugby World Cup.”

He urged people to commit now, rather than “leave it till the 11th hour and give us all a nervous breakdown”.

The trust is working to the council-set target of raising 60% of $45.5 million, although it also needs to find about $10 million on top of that for bridging finance.

Otago Daily Times, 11 Oct 2008

Dunedin City Council reporter David Loughrey considers the complex web of relationships between major players in city projects. He asks whether it is possible to do business in Dunedin without having some sort of conflict of interest, and at what point it is time to step aside.

Relationships between businesspeople, politicians, and those appointed to trusts, committees and to head major projects in Dunedin are inevitable, insiders say….

The small size of the city means the pool of people with the expertise to run organisations is limited, and the potential for conflicts of interest high.

But the general consensus is while that can be managed, when pecuniary interest is involved, it is time to step aside.

And if there is any hint of a conflict of interest, put up your hand and make it clear before someone else does it for you.

The issue has made the news regularly recently, mostly in regards to the Awatea St stadium.

The problem: many of the players in the project are linked in a variety of ways.

It must be stressed that although stadium opponents have made much of some of these links, there is yet to be any official finding, or investigation, of illegal or unethical dealings.

But the links are many…. Such a complex web of connections raises the question of whether anything can be done in a city the size of Dunedin without suggestions of conflicts of interest, or, at the very least, creating that perception.

» Read more…

Sunday Morning, Radio New Zealand National, 21 Sep 08

With Chris Laidlaw - 10:06 The Sunday Group: The Dunedin Stadium Debate

This was the billing:

It’s planned to be the biggest indoor venue in the country, a bright star in Dunedin’s otherwise (some say) flagging fortunes. But the proposed stadium, with its price tag of almost $200 million, has its detractors - concerned citizens who say it will cost a lot of public money, for little public good.

Chris Laidlaw chairing a panel that includes: Malcolm Farry, Chairman of the Carisbrook Stadium Trust; Bev Butler, President of Stop the Stadium; Tim Calder, a founder of the Our Stadium support group; and Otago Regional Councillor Michael Deaker.

Otago Daily Times, 16 Sep 2008

The appointment of a company run by Carisbrook Stadium Trust trustee Ron Anderson to manage the stadium project has been criticised by three Dunedin councillors as a conflict of interest.

Greater Dunedin councillors Dave Cull, Kate Wilson and Chris Staynes yesterday argued Mr Anderson should step aside from the trust….

Mr Anderson, the founder of Arrow International, was named a trustee in 2006, and in the same year, Arrow International won the contract to produce a feasibility report for the stadium.

This month, the company was appointed to help manage the overall design and construction for the project.

At a council finance and strategy meeting yesterday, Cr Cull said the appointment of a trustee’s company created the perception of a conflict of interest.

“The public is starting to say, ‘This looks like jobs for the boys’.

“It’s a perception that matters - an unacceptable perception.”

» Read more…

Otago Saily Times, 13 September 2008

The Carisbrook Stadium Trust has taken on criticism of aspects of its Awatea St stadium proposal, arguing the stadium will be fitted out to an acceptable level, and that the risk of cost overruns can be adequately managed.

Chairman Malcolm Farry rejected allegations the stadium would not have the facilities it needed.

“It’s nonsensical to suggest we’re sitting around as a board, designing something that will not be fit for purpose.

“It will be fit for sport, for conferences, small meetings, large meetings . . .”

The issues, and many others, have been raised by opposition group Stop the Stadium in an opinion piece in the Otago Daily Times by Greater Dunedin councillors Kate Wilson, Chris Staynes and Dave Cull, and in numerous letters to the editor of the newspaper, as reasons the stadium should not be built.

» Read more…

Rugby Heaven, 29 August 2008

An $188 million stadium for Dunedin is closer after the city council said it had acquired all the land needed for the project for more than $32m.

The original budget for land acquisition was $20m, and Carisbrook Stadium Trust chairman Malcolm Farry said the task was more difficult than expected, “probably through a mixture of optimism and naivety”.

Council acting chief executive Kate Styles said the $32.58m spent was slightly misleading because some of the land would be sold to the Crown for the realignment of State Highway 88.

She expected the final figure to be between $20m and $22m after land sales.

Project opponent Stop the Stadium, which was formed last month and has more than 1000 members, said the council had paid too much for the land.

» Read more…

Otago Daily Times, 29 August 2008

The next stage of multimillion-dollar spending on the Awatea St stadium project - payment for the purchase of land at the site - has begun.

The Dunedin City Council announced yesterday it had approved deposits on the leases and land for the project.

Five purchases had occurred on July 31, with the rest of the settlements to be on October 31 this year, and October 31 next year.

The gross cost of the purchase of freehold land, buying out leases, severing tenancies and relocating businesses was $32.5 million.

That is above the original $20 million budget for the land, but Carisbrook Stadium Trust chairman Malcolm Farry said the sale of surplus land bought should make up or better the difference.

» Read more…

Otago Daily Times, 9 May 2008 

Options for the future of Carisbrook will be canvassed by the Carisbrook Stadium Trust and South Dunedin community next year, but it appears demolition of the ground will be considered.

Two local construction sources have claimed costing estimates for demolition of Carisbrook have been sought from Dunedin contractors.

It has been suggested demolition could cost $1 million to $1.4 million.

Stadium trust chairman Malcolm Farry said options were being considered for the ground, but he declined to say what they were because “it was too early to be sending the wrong messages”.

Despite declining to reveal any of the options, Mr Farry was adamant anything replacing Carisbrook as a sports venue should be of more value to the wider South Dunedin population.

» Read more here…

» Related item: Battle lines drawn over Carisbrook