NEW THEATRE SITE

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 9, 1 April 1927, Page 9

NEW THEATRE SITE

BIG PROPERTY DEAL FULLER-HAYWARD PURCHASE QUEEN STREET FRONTAGE, £llOO A FOOT The Fuller-Hayward Proprietary has purchased property in Queen Street on which to build a new and up-to-date theatre on the lines of the St. James’s Theatre, Sydney. The property is at present occupied by Tonson-Garlick and Co. Ltd., furniture warehousemen, but the adjoining- property has also been purchased and a section at the back fronting Lome Street. It is stated that the purchase price is £IOO,OOO. Calculated on the Queen Street frontage this works out at £l,lOO a foot. The property has an 83ft frontage on Queen Street and faces on to the Civic Square. It was the desire of Sir Benjamin Fuller, who is at present in Auckland, to have this central position. About £BO,OOO of the £IOO,OOO purchase price is represented by the purchase of Tonson-Garlick and Co. Ltd.; the remaining £ 20,000 represents the purchase jTrice of the adjoining' property and that facing Elliott Street at the back. * The new theatre, which will be the most modern in Auckland, will seat 2,500 people. The plans are to be put in hand immediately and as soon as they are ready tenders for the erection of the new building will be called.