Waikato Times: Theatre thrills, but Hamiltonians ask - Where will we park?

Originally published in Waikato Times, Thursday 28 August 2025.

By Madeleine Powers.

Waikato Regional Theatre general manager Gus Sharp said parking was a popular topic in theatre planning. PHOTO: Mark Taylor / WAIKATO TIMES.

The Waikato Regional Theatre is one of Hamilton’s most exciting projects, but nothing has stirred as much public passion as where people will park.

On Wednesday, Hamilton City councillors signed off on the final set of parking and traffic changes for the $80 million venue.

Councillor Louise Hutt expressed hope that ongoing parking discussions would not be in vain, and the theatre would one day, in fact be open.

“I know that we did a mobility car park review quite recently, but just in the context of the theatre eventually opening, I live in hope that it will actually open, are we able to monitor this and come back if there’s anything we want to change?“

The council’s Traffic, Speed Limit and Road Closure Hearings Panel approved a package of new loading zones, mobility spaces and shuttle drop-off areas outside the theatre.

The plan includes a 15-metre goods and services loading zone in Sapper Moore-Jones Place, at the rear of the theatre, for deliveries.

There will be a drop-off zone at the front of the new regional theatre. PHOTO: Christel Yardley / WAIKATO TIMES.

Two new 10-metre mobility cardholder parks will be added nearby, one at the beginning of Sapper Moore-Jones Place and another opposite outside 150 Victoria Street.

Three 15-metre sections of CBD metered parking (8am–8pm, Monday to Saturday) will remain on Sapper Moore-Jones Place, but two other paid zones, 20m and 7m long, will be scrapped, alongside new no-stopping areas.

Outside the front entrance, a 40-metre, 10-minute loading zone will be created for passenger drop-offs and small deliveries.

At the northern end, a 20-metre P10 drop-off zone will be reserved for shuttles, while a former bus stop will be repurposed for larger coaches bringing tour groups.

Parking building in Knox Street, Hamilton. PHOTO: Mark Taylor / WAIKATO TIMES.

Waikato Regional Theatre general manager Gus Sharp said parking had been one of the most common issues raised.

“Believe it or not, it’s come up a lot,” he said.

Sharp said the lack of dedicated theatre parking was part of the vision for the project.

“Parking is something people feel passionately about, but a theatre is in the centre of town for a reason,” he said.

He said there were now more car parks within a five-minute walk of the new theatre than there had been around Founders Theatre, pointing to the Alexandra Street car park.

“We would always encourage people to use public transport where they’re able to … but the theatre’s location is about more than convenience.

The theatre will have a dedicated parking space for shuttles and buses to drop off patrons. PHOTO: Christel Yardley / WAIKATO TIMES.

“The reason for being in the centre of town is to provide economic revitalisation, vibrancy, night-time safety.”

“...They don’t happen if you just have people park and then leave. You’ve got to have people walking through the city.”

He also suggested the theatre’s audiences would help lift the tone of the CBD.

“A theatre will send 1300 sober people out into the night time environment at 10.30 or 11 o’clock … that helps with night-time safety and vibrancy.”

Not everyone is convinced.

John Lawrenson, whose Lawrenson Group owns several bars and restaurants on Victoria Street, said he doubted theatre crowds would transform the city’s night scene.

Alexandra Street parking building. PHOTO: Mark Taylor / WAIKATO TIMES.

“I don’t see how putting a bunch of 60-year-olds into the street at 10 o’clock after they went to the latest Hamilton Operatic rendition of Cats is going to suddenly make the city safer somehow,” he said.

But he agreed Hamiltonians needed to get used to using the city’s parking buildings.

“If you just take the three Lawrenson Group eateries … those three places can seat 450 people on a Saturday night.

“The reality is that there are three very good parking buildings within 150m of the Victoria Street dining, and they’re very cheap.”

“We have the Knox Street car park and the Union Square...the car park in the Ministry of Health building car park, literally in Alexandra Street.”

John Lawrenson of Lawrenson Group owns several bars and eateries in the vicinity of the theatre. PHOTO: Christel Yardley / WAIKATO TIMES.

For the theatre itself, loading facilities have been a key part of the design.

“A theatre lives or dies by the ease of its loading in and loading out,” Sharp said.

“Shows pack in early in the morning and they pack out late at night. They don’t pack in at 5pm during rush hour … so the demand for access is going to be smoothed out quite a bit.”

Network and Systems Operations Manager Robyn Denton said a traffic management plan was required as part of the consent.

“When they bring in the large truck and trailer units into the bottom of Sapper Moore-Jones … they’ll need appropriate traffic management to make sure everyone’s safe while the truck is backing and carrying out those manoeuvres,” she said.