Latest / Best of Business / Leeann Watson: Business Canterbury CEO on the opening of the One NZ Stadium

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Leeann Watson: Business Canterbury CEO on the opening of the One NZ Stadium · Best of Business

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  Speaker 2: In zed Stadium, it's Akaha kicking off with a super
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  Speaker 2: bang FORANZAC weekend. The Super Rugby Super Round ten teams
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  Speaker 2: back to back games. Lee and Watson, chief executive at
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  Speaker 2: Business Canterbury, joins me this morning, get Alien, Good morning,
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  Speaker 2: very exciting weekend head for you. How many are you expecting?
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  Speaker 2: What sort of activity in the city.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, look, it'll be certainly a full house at the stadium,
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  Speaker 3: So twenty five thousand people will be flowing out of
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  Speaker 3: that stadium after the very first game tonight, and that
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  Speaker 3: is a moment that christ hu Jen Canary has been
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  Speaker 3: waiting for for a very long time. So it's a
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  Speaker 3: super exciting day. But of course it is also just
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  Speaker 3: the beginning for the city.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, because you've got six sixty and may haven't new
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  Speaker 2: you got Robbie Williams coming later this year. Anything else
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  Speaker 2: that you want to announce to us this morning.
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  Speaker 3: If I knew, maybe, but I don't. But look, I
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  Speaker 3: think you know this is a really exciting time. We
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  Speaker 3: know that the central city was largely sort of rebuilt
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  Speaker 3: and that was the private sector. You know, we had
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  Speaker 3: businesses and private investors you know, really commit early and
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  Speaker 3: get into the central city. And so this is real
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  Speaker 3: payback for those businesses now that the stadium is about
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  Speaker 3: to open and we will see not only our own
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  Speaker 3: people from christ Church and Canterry in the South Island coming,
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  Speaker 3: but those from the North Island. Have tried to get
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  Speaker 3: a flight back from Wellington last night. All of them
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  Speaker 3: were full. It's a really great science that will bring
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  Speaker 3: people into the city and spending money locally, which is
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  Speaker 3: exactly what we want.
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  Speaker 1: Lene.
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  Speaker 2: Are you seeing businesses make decisions about where to locate
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  Speaker 2: themselves that sort of thing now that the stadium's being built.
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  Speaker 3: Oh look, definitely. But that's been happening for years actually,
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  Speaker 3: which is good. And as I said before, the private sector,
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  Speaker 3: you know, really led the redevelopment of the central City
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  Speaker 3: on the basis that we were going to have the
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  Speaker 3: stadium right in the heart of you know what is
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  Speaker 3: now our world class central city. So people are still
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  Speaker 3: making those decisions. You know, spoken to a number of
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  Speaker 3: businesses that have got themselves positioned pretty close to the
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  Speaker 3: stadium as well, and they'll no doubt be hosting clients
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  Speaker 3: before the game tonight, so it's a real draw card.
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  Speaker 3: It puts chrish Chute back on the world stage. It
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  Speaker 3: also bringing forces of course that you know, christ Church
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  Speaker 3: is now a new, modern, ambitious city full of opportunity,
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  Speaker 3: and that's great for our investors. It's grateful businesses who
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  Speaker 3: are looking to move here and also looking for people
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  Speaker 3: that are wanting to move into christ Choot. I'm trying
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  Speaker 3: to It really is more than just a piece of
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  Speaker 3: infrastructure in the central city totally.
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  Speaker 2: It's sort of the icing on the cake, really, isn't
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  Speaker 2: it for In terms of your entertainment, Leanne, what about
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  Speaker 2: the hotel situation? Hotel and accommodation, have you got enough
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  Speaker 2: of it in christ Church. I've been trying to book
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  Speaker 2: tickets to stay. I've got it, I'm coming to the concert,
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  Speaker 2: but I have been trying to book a hotel and shit,
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  Speaker 2: things are a bit tight.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, and look absolutely they are pretty tight. There's
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  Speaker 3: a positive situation to have. We've obviously got you know,
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  Speaker 3: the new Sheraton hotel being built at the moment, that's
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  Speaker 3: imminent and so there is more bids coming which I
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  Speaker 3: think we will definitely need and that's a good sign
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  Speaker 3: that we've got people who are wanting to come. We
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  Speaker 3: hope that we can make sure we've got different options
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  Speaker 3: of animal people, but I think that is differently coming.
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  Speaker 2: LeAnn Watson, Chief Executive Business Canterbury. Time is twenty two
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  Speaker 2: minutes after five.
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