Waikato Times: Face off - Full frontage of regional theatre revealed as façade scaffolding comes down

Originally published in Waikato Times, Saturday 17 May 2025.

By Mike Mather.

The Sapper Moore-Jones statue appears to size up the newly-revealed frontage of the old Hamilton Hotel - now the façade for the Waikato Regional Theatre. PHOTO: Christel Yardley / WAIKATO TIMES.

It’s been under wraps for a while, but the full “face” of the $80 million Waikato Regional Theatre can now be seen on Victoria St.

The last of the scaffolding shielding the old Hamilton Hotel façade facing Hamilton’s main street was taken down on Friday.

Passers-by now have an almost unfettered view of the newly-restored 102-year-old architecture.

Momentum Waikato communications and marketing manager Mark Servian said the scaffolding removal was a small but significant step in the saga of the theatre’s manifestation.

“I have lived in Hamilton since the mid-1980s, and Victoria St now looks better than at any time I have seen it in the last 40 years.”

The façade restoration team employed a “crack injection” process to help stabilise the masonry while also intentionally retaining flaws that had crept in over the years since the hotel was originally built in 1923.

‘There is still a lot of work to do on the ground floor,’ Momentum Waikato communications and marketing manager Mark Servian said. PHOTO: Christel Yardley / WAIKATO TIMES.

However there are many more steps to go before the construction process is completed. Fosters Construction staff are still working on the canopy of the building that will sit over the footpath - which will also have to be built at some point in the future.

“There is still a lot of work to do on the ground floor, so the wall surrounding the theatre and the slipway that is right out the front is going to be there for a while longer,” Servian said.

“The people of Hamilton will get the whole width of their road back soon.”

It is anticipated the construction will be completed in its entirety in October, with opening day for the theatre - which has a 1300-seat main auditorium - happening not long thereafter.

Given international touring acts are often announced several months in advance, it may not be long before the first bands or artists scheduled to play in the newly-opened theatre are known.

Late last year Live Nation, the world’s biggest live entertainment company, signed a 15-year deal to manage the day-to-day running of the theatre.

It’s an arrangement that will allow the global giant, based in Beverley Hills, Los Angeles, to make use of its marketing clout and vast reach into the international performing community to bring world-class shows to Kirikiriroa.

Live Nation will operate the theatre in partnership with Waikato Regional Property Trust, which owns the building and the land underneath it.

This render by Jasmax Architects shows what the Waikato Regional Theatre will look like, once the building is opened and filled with people later this year. IMAGE: Jasmax.

While one “face” of the theatre can already be seen, the building’s human face - events manager Michael Gilling - now has his feet “under the desk” and is already hard at work, Servian said.

Gilling was previously “event delivery manager” at H3 Group, the division of Hamilton City Council responsible for the running of FMG Stadium Waikato, Seddon Park, Globox Arena, Claudelands Conference & Exhibition Centre and The Grandstand.

While it appears not much is happening with the theatre building, the inside it is a scene of furious activity as workers fit out the interior.

There is also plenty of work to be done on the “envelope” surrounding the theatre, including the completion of the old Embassy Park area - or Embassy Plaza, as it is referred to in architectural designs.