Welly will do well from The Hobbit, and potential Avatar sequels definitely. It should move further into film, if possible. Excellent employer, including support like hotels, catering, transport etc...

The government needs to focus less on Auckland for growth. Could Welly get some breaks or help towards growing niche industries such as: IT/digital, (video) games, bio-tech or other science/research/medical industries, or something future-ish like 3D printing?

Sadly it needs to be stuff which doesn't logistically rely too much on a big international airport.

Those little modular/containery looking apartments are great. Fresh, modern and functional. Good stuff.

Re: Reading car park - shame it's a supermarket but it was an eyesore before so at least it'll be partially addressed. Pity it can't be anything better to liven up this dull patch.

Another thanks to dmanww - this thread is nowhere nearly as busy as it should be.

Obviously development isn't booming (nor is public transport for example) but there isn't a lot in the way of fluff either - for example the restaurants/retail threads AKL have.

Will the Sofitel be reclad? It's pretty dated and ugly. What's the latest from the Hilton group?

Is there much in the way of the street food/food truck craze in Wellington?

An indoor market with these, and a dining area (think Chelsea Markets, Gotham, even Singapore hawker centres but nicer) would work, as would an outdoor location.

And of course a big central food produce market like in Barcelona or Borough would be great also. Many of the establishments in there are smaller but semi-permanent.

Dope. Thanks so much Solom - awesome stuff.

And overall, looks pretty positive for Wellington. Nicely rounded - lots of office space and commercial, with tons of hotel activity too. Hoping more intensification on residential continues too, and especially the re-purposing/renovation of the heritage buildings. Plus more laneways of course.

Waterfront, a nice mix too, with offices, public space and so on. I do hope the ferry situation is sorted, and the arena follows. Gutted about the Movie Museum still, but I can't imagine we've seen the end of it.

That Courtenay waffle is just waffle - what does it even mean? If any plans were submitted, they'd be out there, so just a case of 'we're back at the drawing board'.

Hoping anything new isn't another horrible dark tacky cavern, and connects to the waterfront better than the last one did.