Renovate and rebuild, or knock it down and start again? Here’s what some experts think.
It is, probably, one of Trade Me’s most expensive listings. Skyworld, the nine-storey entertainment mecca covering 3,486 square metres in the heart of Auckland’s CBD is, for the first time since 2011, up for sale. What will it cost? It’s hard to say when it’s so gloomy, rundown and depressing, but you’d have to guess it’s somewhere between that 2011 sale price of $34 million and the Auckland Council CV of $54 million.
Whoever buys it will need to spend much more on top of that. The complex’s original architect Ashley Allen predicts $15-20 million will be needed to cover the costs to redesign, refurbish, rebuild and return Skyworld to its former glory, when it was an all-in-one destination for food, shopping and entertainment. Or, as it was promoted when it opened in 1999: “An adventure every visit”.
Should it be knocked down and turned into something new? Or revamped with nods to its chequered past? We decided to ask the experts, invested parties and Auckland CBD busybodies for their opinions on how to Make Skyworld Great Again. Here’s what they said…
Henry Oliver, Metro editor
I am not usually a nostalgic or conservative person, but my hope of all hopes is that Skyworld could become a 2020s update of its 2000s glory — a real entertainment centre with a bustling cinema, a thriving food court, browsable retail, a spacies arcade, a few sit-down restaurants and a bar or two (one which could double as a medium-sized live music venue). It’d need to be anchored by a dominant retailer in the Borders space — something unique that would attract people (let’s say Uniqlo) — and a functioning, relevant cinema.
While we are at an all-time low for people wanting to “go into town” and the CBD office environment never quite recovering from Covid, having a City Rail Link station just around the corner (planned to be open by 2025) could radically change the prospects of the area. Let’s not forget that the central city is increasingly less a business centre than a dense residential suburb.
Skyworld could be the entertainment heart of all that. It just needs vision, tenants, and money. Lots and lots of money.
Ashley Allen, Skyworld’s original architect
Naturally we think we are the right architects for the redevelopment. We’re so passionate about our building. It’s like our baby. This particular site has got into my bones and we want to see something world class back on that site.
Maybe I’m just a bit too big-headed, but I can’t see how another architect can understand some of the potential [problems] that can happen in the building. I know some of the things you can’t do easily because of surfaces and problems with structures and other stuff. I’m thinking, ‘I know what can be done, I know things that can be better from the original design, and it’s so easy for me to do that, and so difficult for some other architect to do it.’
We’re looking to add a whole new roof to the building, have bars, mini-conference facilities, a stage, an external life with a steampunk feel. [An outdoor elevator] would be like a Welsh mining cage with wheels on top. It can take up to 50 people [to the roof] at a time. Everyone can see you so it becomes part of the street theatre. That will take people to the upper level, bars, restaurants. It looks out to the Aotea Centre. It has beautiful views. It has quite nice potential up there. (Interview courtesy of the Substack newsletter Boiler Room.)
Wayne Brown, Auckland Mayor
* Did not respond.
Sam Brooks, Spinoff journalist
I have one idea for Skyworld: Keep Metrolanes as it is. Turn it into a heritage site. Do whatever it takes to keep the cheapest dive bar in the CBD, with the most bizarrely gorgeous view, exactly as it is. I guarantee whoever buys it will end up sitting on a goldmine once that City Rail Link opens and various business people, university students and playwrights-slash-journalists want their 5.01pm fix before going on to whatever their evening plans are.
The best thing anyone can do to Skyworld is revive what it used to be: A third space. Since Skyworld’s fall from ubiquity, a bunch of lovely third spaces have popped up around the CBD – Fed Street, Freyberg Square, Britomart – but having spaces where you can grab a bite, sneak a beer, have a coffee after work, before a film or in between meetings is one of the best assets a city has. Skyworld could be the best of those, by far, if it’s invested in.
(Read Sam’s feature, ‘An adventure every visit: From Skyworld’s glitzy launch to its bleak present,’ here.)
Chlöe Swarbrick, MP for Central Auckland
Skyworld was born just five years after me. I remember watching my first ever iMax 3D movie, Jurassic Park III, during school holidays. I remember the pictures and décor on the walls of Planet Hollywood, but I’m not sure if I actually ever ate there. I remember how it felt to ride those rocket-ship elevators and load up a plate with kai from the buffet in the food court.
I remember spending hours in Borders, trawling what felt like a massive expanse of kids books during endless weekends before heading upstairs to the Queen Street level to traverse what felt like infinite magazines that talked about technology and fashion and art and culture. It had that imprint on a lot of Aucklanders.
The place was magic. It still has that magic potential. I strongly agree with Sam Brooks that Metrolanes is one of the best kept secret bars in Tāmaki Makaurau. I wish it didn’t feel like a secret, though. I wish it was thriving – and that’s why we need investment in the ecosystem of Skyworld. I’ve made some flippant comments in the past about how it could be Public Works Act-ed, because it’s sitting neglected and run-down between what’s set to become one of our busiest CRL stations and the so-called arts precinct. We’ve also toyed with the idea of it being used as the new primary school Ministry of Education projections predict we’ll need within the next 10 or so years.
It could be a mid-town theme park. A giant greenhouse for urban agriculture. A massive, contained and safe rave venue. It could be an all-night bookstore, reminiscent of the romance of the Borders days. It could host a hub of community services, like our Citizens Advice Bureaus, Community Law, Rainbow Youth, Lifewise and more. Whatever it is, it needs to be so much more than a mall.
Steve Bielby, St James owner
The midtown area needs a precinct plan and central government should step up and provide some financing by way of a 10-year loan to Auckland Council to acquire it. The City Rail Link is an opportunity that doesn’t come along every day and we have the chance to strategically plan this whole precinct (acknowledging that the St James also has a role here and is currently in a pretty sad state).
Council should buy it, increase the density massively, put a hotel consent on the site with a ground floor of hospitality offerings and a pedestrian plaza linking CRL to Queen St and either develop it for long-term income or sell it with the consent and an obligation to build in place. I’d even help develop the business case for them pro bono. This city needs an urban design and development champion to ensure cohesion and common goals are achieved.
Brad Jacobs, The Coffee Club director and ex-Skyworld tenant
I still believe there is a really great opportunity to re-create what used to be there but in a new modern format. It’s obviously very run down now and will need a huge amount of work to bring it up to where it needs to be, but I do genuinely believe an all-in-one entertainment and casual dining precinct in the heart of the CBD definitely has a place and would thrive again.
James Kwak, Skyworld owner
* Did not respond.
Chris Hart, Real Groovy owner
It’s a real shame Skyworld has been allowed to decay especially now that this part of town is booming. With the Wellesley entrance of the Aotea station soon able to disgorge thousands of people onto its doorstep, you’d think the potential was there for the right owner.
If a refurbishment was done, it could possibly be ready by late 2025, in time for the station opening. Anything beyond a refurbishment back to original purpose is likely to be cost prohibitive, unless it included apartments, and it would have to have some sort of commitment from a major tenant to justify the risk.
Probably a revamp would be the best thing for Auckland. The layout is really difficult and has some serious issues, but the original theme isn’t really going to date. It was unique enough to transcend fashion. Steampunk futurism!
Viv Beck, Heart of the City chief executive
This site is brimming with major opportunity and perfectly placed to help realise a fantastic arts quarter and entertainment destination right on the doorstep on the City Rail Link. We’d love this site to become a real drawcard for family-friendly experiences – dialling up some of the best bits which are still operating and taking it to a new level of entertainment experience.
We’re dreaming of Lego exhibits, spaces that host immersive experiences like the Monopoly Dreams theme park in Melbourne, the latest in gaming technology, and a 24/7 food offering that appeals to a broad audience. Along with the need to secure funding to get the St James Theatre back up and running, redeveloping this site in the right way will help to regenerate a key part of a place that has nearly 40,000 residents and is well on the way to a being a 24/7 international city.