Negotiations are under way for a new, as yet undisclosed site for a proposed multimillion-dollar art gallery in Wanaka.
John Charrington, who last year established the Lakes District Gallery Foundation, had originally hoped the existing Wanaka Arts Centre building on council-owned land behind the Lake Wanaka Centre could be demolished and replaced with a new purpose-built art gallery, for which the foundation would raise funding.
The Wanaka Community Board gave support to his proposal when it was first mooted in 2011, and approval in principle for a ground lease for the site. Any approval from the Queenstown Lakes District Council was dependent on the foundation accommodating the Wanaka Arts Centre Trust in the new building at a reasonable rental.
However, a report by QLDC property management company APL to a recent community board meeting said the foundation was pursuing other sites as it was ''concerned with the tenure [the need to provide space to the Arts Centre Trust] and possible engineering problems on the site''. The community board subsequently approved a short-term lease of the building to the Wanaka Arts Centre Trust, with two rights of renewal of one year each.
''If the arts foundation wants to reconsider this site or if another use comes to light, the term is sufficiently brief that it won't prevent such future uses,'' the report said.
