The council’s announcement last week that it has signed a lease to occupy the former Mitre 10  building is the first step in a lengthy and costly process to transform a commercial barn into a much-needed sports, youth and community centre.

The 10-year lease began last Sunday (May 1) but the proposed $4.15M budget to fitout the  facility is yet to be approved via the council’s annual plan process.

The facility will be managed by Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) staff but its annual operating costs (as yet unknown), plus the lease costs, are yet to be included in the current annual plan considerations.

The building’s interior will be redesigned to create two multi-use, netball-sized courts and a separate studio that could be used for dance, yoga or fitness classes, and as a meeting space.

Volunteers deconstructed the vacant Mitre 10 building in May last year. PHOTO: Supplied

The $4.15M fit-out budget to convert the former ‘big-box retail space” into a functioning community centre includes insulation, dividing walls, painting, flooring, plumbing and other services to separate the spaces across the whole footprint, QLDC sport and recreation manager Simon Battrick said.

“The enclosed studio will have a storage area, sprung floor, heating and mirrors, etc. The two netball-sized courts will have a specialised surface. There will be a toilet block with nine toilets and two changing rooms, and a reception area with a small office just inside the main entrance.”

The budget also includes enclosing the separate spaces designed for key tenants Kahu Youth (which will be allocated about 274m2) and Aspiring Gymsports (about 900m2); providing these spaces with heating, plumbing and electrical services. 

Both Kahu Youth and Aspiring Gymsports have been fundraising to equip their own spaces.

Last year’s annual plan included a nominal $1M for the facilities fit-out but, given that the new proposed fit-out budget is now $4.15M, the original estimation of costs was well off the mark, Wānaka-based councillor Quentin Smith said.

Quentin Smith said community projects must be developed and funded in the ten year plan. PHOTO: QLDC

“The initial estimate was clearly mis-scoped and the next estimate was unfortunately as high as $7-8M. $4M is a simplified and more basic fit-out,” he said. 

“I would hope that council can be a little more precise in the future as this is clearly frustrating and problematic for us in planning and funding projects.”  

Quentin said the council is between “a rock and a hard place” on this project: public demand for community facilities couldn’t be postponed until proposed future sports facilities near the Wānaka Recreation Centre came to fruition.

“We did have the option of …considering a purpose built facility at Three Parks but that was at least five to seven years away at best and the community just couldn’t wait that long,” he said.  

“We can’t continue to defer community projects like this and hope for the best, they must be developed and funded in the ten year plan or we will continue to fall short of the community needs.”  

The vacant Mitre 10 building and adjacent car park presented a good opportunity and converting it to a community facility became the only “feasible option” which could be achieved in the short-term, Quentin said.

While the $4.15M budget is yet to be approved in the QLDC’s annual plan, the Wānaka Community Board decided in a publicly excluded session in March this year that at least $1M of this fit-out will be funded from the Wānaka Asset Sale Reserve (WASR) fund. 

It also agreed to provide a further $900,000 from the fund if applications for community grants from third parties are unsuccessful.

Quentin has been outspoken about the increasing use of the diminishing WASR funds believing they should be targeted to help deliver items that have “a positive impact on the community”, such as the Mt Iron purchase deal. 

“While I would prefer not to have used the WASR for the fit-out of this building, it was a clear [this facility] needed to be addressed, we couldn’t continue to wait or even put a greater burden on rates in these tough times.” 

He added that the WASR fund would be “topped up” by the sale of the old pool site on Plantation Road and the potential sale of the remaining “Scurr Heights land” (off Ironside Drive) adjacent to Kellys Flat.   

Simon would not be drawn on when the council anticipated the facility would be ready for occupation. 

Anchor tenants Kahu Youth and Aspiring Gymsports both outgrew their current premises years ago and Aspiring Gymsports’ current lease expires in July this year.

Simon said council was aware of the Aspiring Gymsports lease deadline and it had been working “to identify opportunities for a space that the club can use before the lease at its current premises ends”.

“Any move by the club into the new centre obviously depends on the necessary consents and construction work being completed in time.”

He said the repurposed facility will retain its “working title”, the Wānaka Youth and Community Centre, but its official name “will be confirmed before it opens to the community…”