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Courtenay Place Precinct Plan

Courtenay Place is our priority precinct, offering us the best opportunity to improve people’s experience and perception of Wellington’s central city.

We aim to make Courtenay Place the premier place to play

About the project

We're working with businesses and residents to make Courtenay Place a destination for everyone.

Courtenay Place has a proud history as Wellington’s gathering place – first as Te Aro Pā, and later as our leading entertainment district – but it has seen better days.

We’ve worked with stakeholders of Courtenay Place to develop a plan that will make Courtenay Place ‘our premier place to play’.

The plan will be implemented by the Council, our partners and the private sector to improve the look and feel of the precinct, make it safer, and showcase Courtenay Place’s diverse entertainment.

The good news is the revitalisation has already started, with a refurbished St James Theatre and the new Tākina Convention Centre.

Read more about the precinct plan.

Indian dancers in colourful clothing dancing on stage.
Dancers at the opening of the refurbished St James Theatre on Courtenay Place

In developing the plan, we heard from businesses and residents that they wanted to see more greenery, events and creative lighting. We’ve been working together to bring this vision to life.

Volunteers planting in the central city.
Volunteers adding greenery to planters on Allen Street

Read our news story: Community managed planter boxes bloom in the Courtenay precinct – August 2024

Supporting businesses to run events

We're funding businesses to run a series of entertainment activations in the area, including street performances and food festivals. Check out the events calendar to see what's on.

People perform inside a Chinese dragon at a street festival in Wellington.
From the Eat Street event. Photo credit: Tilted Frames.

Investment prospectus

Courtenay precinct is prime for investment. We’ve developed an investment prospectus for property developers, leasing agents, investors, and businesses in this area to showcase what Courtenay precinct offers.

Courtenay Precinct Investment Prospectus (3.4MB PDF)

Courtenay precinct promotion

Our business community in this area have expressed their interest in growing their marketing capability, and the visual identity of the precinct. We’re working together to develop a Courtenay specific visual identity and facilitated Neatplaces.co.nz to support 30 businesses with marketing.

A customer viewing the cabinet food at Belen Vegan Bakery on Courtenay Place
Belen Vegan Bakery on Courtenay Place

Consumer demand research

We commissioned a piece of research to better understand demand for entertainment in the Courtenay precinct. Face to face interviews with over 600 users of Courtenay Place were completed to gather visitor profiles and hear what they saw were opportunities for the area's business offering.

Courtenay Precinct Report (2.2MB PDF)

Keeping Courtenay precinct clean

We’ve got a new daily cleaning schedule for Courtenay Place, in addition to the existing deep cleans which happen in the early hours of the morning to ensure a high standard of cleanliness in this specific area.

We also coordinated a series of community clean ups in targeted locations in the central city, to make a visible improvement in the short term and bring pride to our shared environment.

Read our news story: Courtenay Place scrubs up well after community clean-up – June 2023

Community clean up in Courtenay Place

Golden mile upgrades

In addition to short-term mahi like the Courtenay Place Precinct Plan, the Council is working towards making the area safer, better looking, and a more comfortable and fun place, through the Golden Mile project.

Major infrastructure upgrades are needed to make our city a better place to live, work, and play. These essential investments will enable our city to grow and thrive. Keep up to date with the projects happening in Wellington city on the Positively Pōneke website. Or, read more about the Golden Mile transformation project on Positively Pōneke - The Golden Mile Courtenay Place.

Contact us

To get in touch with the team behind the Courtenay Place Precinct Plan, email economicwellbeing@wcc.govt.nz.