The City of Cape Town has a problem -
a nearly new, barely used, international quality stadium slap bang in the
centre of a precinct screaming to be developed into an urban node. The business
case for the stadium hinged on attracting the local rugby union team Western
Province (or The Stormers when playing in the Super Rugby tournament) as anchor
tenants as the stadium is too big and inconveniently located for the two
professional soccer teams based in the city. The costs of maintaining the
stadium require 16 full house events (55,000 bums on seats) annually (noted by Guy
Lundy, Twitter), which can only realistically be achieved if it hosts regular
rugby games.
However, the Western Province Rugby
Football Union (WPRFU) own their current stadium, Newlands, and are loathe to
forego the benefits of being owners of an old stadium for the benefits of being
tenants at a new one. And understandably so - the WPRFU are in a strong
negotiating position to get a good deal from the City, so a move that makes
financial sense to the City is looking less and less likely.
Compounding this issue for City is a
vocal, NIMBY, residents association covering the new stadium precinct, which
viciously opposes any alternative uses of the stadium precinct for restaurants,
clubs and other night-life venues.
This seemingly intractable situation
has led to a few alarming, or at least surprising suggestions... The most
extreme is to 'simply' demolish the new stadium - although I don't know if the
proponents of that path have given any thoughts how to use the land better...
In my humble opinion, demolishing R4.5 billion of nearly new infrastructure, no
matter how misplaced the spending may have been is an indication of a severe
lack of imagination.
Not lacking in imagination, but
perhaps in practicality is the plan to turn the stadium into low-cost housing.
I'm not sure how this would work architecturally, but the first thing to spring
to mind is that low-cost housing should probably be low-cost (which the stadium
certainly isn't). The other is that the modifications necessary to change a
stadium into apartments are likely to cost more than demolishing and then
building genuine low-cost housing in its place... So we're back to the point
above.
Further to that, new urban models
show the need for mixed income housing along with other space uses to create
liveable urban spaces. Putting high density housing where the stadium would
have to be thoroughly tested on urban design grounds before taking any steps in
that direction.
I'd like to throw another thought
into the mix... If the key issue is land ownership of Newlands (for WPRFU) and
the operating costs of the new stadium (for the City), why not just exchange
assets?
The City could swap the new stadium
in Greenpoint for the old one in Newlands. WPRFU would get a brand new, world
class stadium instead of an old one, without having to give up the land
ownership of ‘their’ stadium. The City would get an albatross off from around
their necks and secure a prime piece of land for place-making in Newlands.
The fact that there is already a
project underway for creating a public zone adjacent to Newlands strengthens
the case further...
If I have overlooked something here,
please comment...
Well, they are also building the new Green Point athletics stadium right next to the bloody great big one...
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