Nor'West News: March 14, 2024
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Thursday <strong>March</strong> <strong>14</strong> <strong>2024</strong> 3<br />
Cinema’s new lease of life<br />
• By Dylan Smits<br />
MAJOR renovations to the<br />
Hollywood Cinema in Sumner<br />
are under way.<br />
Contractors from Bushnell<br />
Builders have torn down the<br />
front canopy facing Marriner St<br />
as part of the first stage of the<br />
makeover.<br />
“It’s been a long time coming,<br />
so it’s good to see things finally<br />
under way,” said project manager<br />
Andy Wilkinson.<br />
Built in 1938, the oldest<br />
cinema in Christchurch will become<br />
part of the high-end Silky<br />
Otter Cinemas chain.<br />
It was owned by cinema<br />
pioneer Lang Masters for more<br />
than six decades. He died, aged<br />
92, in August last year.<br />
Masters sold the cinema to<br />
the Doig family in September<br />
2021, who are leasing it to Silky<br />
Otter.<br />
Wilkinson said the construction<br />
part of the renovation will<br />
hopefully be complete in December<br />
with the opening date<br />
yet to be determined.<br />
“What we’re figuring out right<br />
now is how the tenant’s needs<br />
are going to integrate with that.<br />
They have to install the seating,<br />
the audiovisual equipment and<br />
the fit out of the bar.”<br />
It will be determined in<br />
the coming weeks whether<br />
VISION: Work has started on the Hollywood Cinema in<br />
Sumner. Below – an artist’s impression of the cinema<br />
after it is converted into part of the Silky Otter Cinema<br />
chain.<br />
Silky Otter can refurbish the<br />
interior at the same time as the<br />
construction work, Wilkinson<br />
said.<br />
Three 48-seater luxury cinemas<br />
and a bar will be created.<br />
Wilkinson said the back end<br />
of the building will be extended,<br />
making room for an additional<br />
cinema to complement the<br />
previous two.<br />
The city council issued a<br />
building consent in November.<br />
Bushnell Builders was selected<br />
as the contractor last month.<br />
Before major structural work<br />
can begin, asbestos in the walls<br />
and ceilings will be removed.<br />
Then new foundations for<br />
the existing building and the<br />
extension will be constructed.<br />
“There’s quite a lot of work<br />
that’s got to be done inside<br />
with the structure before that<br />
rear wall can be taken out,”<br />
Wilkinson said.<br />
The neighbouring Coffee<br />
Culture, which is attached<br />
to the building, will also be<br />
renovated with designs still in<br />
the planning stage, he said.<br />
The owner of Sumner Bar<br />
and Grill next door, Shubham<br />
Kumar, welcomed the start of<br />
the renovations.<br />
“It will definitely be good. If<br />
customers go there, they will<br />
come here too.”<br />
Community<br />
board chair’s<br />
resignation<br />
on the table<br />
• By Chris Barclay<br />
HELEN Broughton’s future as<br />
chair of the Waipuna Halswell-<br />
Hornby-Riccarton Community<br />
Board should be clarified today,<br />
despite her resignation from the<br />
role following<br />
pressure from<br />
colleagues.<br />
Although the<br />
city’s longestserving<br />
local<br />
government<br />
politician tendered<br />
her resignation<br />
ahead of the<br />
board’s monthly<br />
meeting, standing down was<br />
Helen<br />
Broughton<br />
contingent on Broughton being<br />
able to act as board spokesperson<br />
on planning and housing<br />
intensification.<br />
Broughton, who has represented<br />
Riccarton on the board since 1995,<br />
included that caveat, which was set<br />
to be a major talking point on this<br />
afternoon’s agenda.<br />
If her stipulation is denied she<br />
planned to revoke her resignation,<br />
exacerbating an impasse.<br />
Appointed unopposed as chair<br />
in 2022 elections, Broughton’s<br />
final term before retirement came<br />
under scrutiny following a difficult<br />
meeting on February 15.<br />
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03 359 6679 | PAPANUI.LAWYER@SAUNDERS.CO.NZ | CITY, WIGRAM, PAPANUI, FERRYMEAD | SAUNDERS.CO.NZ