Big Wellington land deals

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PHOTO: Lyall Bay, Wellington

According to STUFF a large chunk of waterfront land has been sold at Wellington’s Lyall Bay to a secret buyer hidden behind a blind trust.

The area has been rumoured to be the site of Sir Peter Jackson’s long-touted film museum but Wingnut Films chief executive and executive producer Clare Olssen – who acts as a spokesperson for Jackson – said that while they would love to build a film museum in Wellington, there were no “definitive” plans yet.

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It has also been rumoured to be a new base for Wētā Workshop – one of Wellington’s big tourism drawcards – but Sir Richard Taylor, the Oscar winning co-director of the company, said there were no plans to move the workshop.

**WELLINGTON CITY COUNCIL**

**The site of the Lyall Bay land deal.**

Meanwhile, another site just down the road from Wētā Workshop in Miramar is causing its own set of rumours of a coming film museum.

Many sites over many years have been touted for Jackson’s film museum. A plan to build one at Shelly Bay on the Miramar peninsula fell flat around 2012. Then a plan publicly emerged in 2015 to incorporate it in what is now the Wellington City Council’s Tākina conference centre but this fell flat after differences between camp Jackson and the council in 2018.

Property records show the block of Park Rd in Miramar – from 144 to 148, which is now being demolished was sold by Camperdown Studios to Stanley Properties for $12 million in March 2022.

**WELLINGTON CITY COUNCIL**

**The site of the Miramar land sale.**

Both companies are ultimately owned by Jackson and his partner Fran Walsh. Nearby residents and businesses had been told to prepare for weeks of demolition, which has already begun. Olssen from Wingnut said the site was being prepared for “redevelopment”.

Wellington City Council spokesperson Richard MacLean said no consents had been lodged or granted for the Park Rd site.

The Lyall Bay block meanwhile, is essentially an entire waterfront block bordered by Lyall Parade, Kingsford Smith St, McGregor St and Tirangi Rd. Richard Mazur confirmed he had sold a significant chunk of the block for an undisclosed sum to a “blind trustee company”. The deal was going to be finalised on July 5 but he did not know who the buyer was.

Lowe & Co estate agent Annie Newell, who is understood to have brokered the Lyall Bay deal, said it was “completely confidential” but “none of the rumours are true”.