Waikato Times: Hospitality deal ‘close’ for Waikato Regional Theatre

Originally published in Waikato Times, Monday 3 February 2025, including video.

By Stephen Ward.

Hospitable - an artist's rendition of how the entranceway to the old Hamilton Hotel will look once the Waikato Regional Theatre is complete and open to the public this year. IMAGE: Jasmax.

Hospitality providers for the Waikato Regional Theatre are being nailed down and there’s confidence they’ll all be in place when the theatre opens later this year.

Craig Paul, of Hamilton-based hospitality sector consultants Table Talks, confirmed he was involved in “advanced negotiations” for a “local operator” to run the hospitality area.

He was confident a deal could be done in time for the ground-floor hospitality area to be open for the theatre’s launch.

Inside the Waikato Regional Theatre. PHOTO: Mark Jephson / WAIKATO TIMES.

“The outcome for Hamilton will be spectacular,” he said.

“We’ll all open together.”

Base designs had been done and structural work on the ground floor, like toilets, was already in place.

The Waikato Regional Theatre project’s general manager Gus Sharp said the hospitality operation was the responsibility of the WRT Commercial Partnership Limited, which was separate from the actual theatre.

So the theatre itself wasn’t involved in the ground-floor hospitality negotiations although “we’re being kept informed”.

Confident - theatre project general manager Gus Sharp says the deal with Live Nation will help ensure a steady stream of customers for the new ground flood hospitality area. PHOTO: Mark Taylor / WAIKATO TIMES.

He said the recently announced deal with the world’s largest live entertainment company, Live Nation, to run the theatre for 15 years would give confidence to any potential ground-floor hospitality operator.

“Any prospective tenants can be incredibly heartened by the deal we’ve signed with Live Nation, which will bring a regular stream of customers in,” said Sharp.

Last November, the city council had announced a fresh $6.5 million loan at commercial rates to help establish the commercial and hospitality operations at the theatre.

Closer to completion - a recent shot inside the under construction theatre. PHOTO: Mark Jephson / WAIKATO TIMES

The loan was to the WRT Commercial Limited Partnership, which involves the likes of Fosters director Leonard Gardner and the Gallagher family.

The council loan could be obtained early, before certain legal titles to be issued, allowing all parts of the theatre could open at the same time.

Gardner confirmed on Thursday that, once the development was finished, legal title to the relevant area could be issued and the council loan could then be re-financed with commercial lenders. He couldn’t put a timeframe on that.

As for when a hospitality area operator would be in the building, Gardner said: “I’m optimistic that when the theatre doors open it’ll be supported by a [quality] hospitality offering.”

Fosters’ Leonard Gardner, who’s involved with the theatre, is optimistic a hospitality provider would be in place when the doors opened. PHOTO: WAIKATO TIMES

The Waikato Times was recently granted a tour of the building’s interior - a guided visit that provided more than a few hints of the sheer magnitude of the splendour of the Waikato Regional Theatre.

It was also the last opportunity to take a gander at the grandeur for several months as visits by anyone not directly involved in the construction were being curtailed as the building of the superstructure comes to an end and the fit-out of the interior picks up pace.

Apart from practical reasons for keeping people out, the project was also keen not to spoil the surprise for when the theatre opens.

“It’s all steel and concrete now, but eventually it will be timber and velvet. The skin is yet to go on,” Momentum Waikato communications and marketing manager Mark Servian said recently.

“You might think it looks impressive now, but just wait until it’s finished.”

From this week the building is due to be effectively deemed weather-tight - and the interior work can begin in earnest.

“We will also be topping off the final three metres on the flying tower,” Foster’s site manager Dave Middlemiss said.

“That will effectively bring the structural work to an end ... When the last piece of steel gets brought in by the crane, it is a pretty big deal. There will be a few signatures going onto it, and you will see a few flags flying.”