Chow for now massage palour

[akadaka]

written myself off a few times in this old watering hole and next door to the Mexican Cafe too and their famous jugs of Margaritas



http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4360666/Building-prompts-road-closures-evacuation


: Central Auckland streets have been closed because a building planned as a Rugby World Cup brothel has large cracks in it.

A police cordon is in place around the Palace hotel, formally known as Aurora Tavern, on the intersection of Victoria St and Federal St after large, fresh cracks were discovered.

As a precaution police have cordoned off Victoria St West between Hobson St and Albert St. Federal St between Victoria St and Kingston St is also closed. Nearby shops have been evacuated.

The run-down building is in the process of being revamped and turned into a "massage" club in the lead-up to the Rugby World Cup.

Wellington brothel owners John and Michael Chow bought the building, which is opposite the Sky Tower and is surrounded by residential buildings and shops, for $3.3 million.

The Chow brothers own a string of Wellington brothels including Il Bordello and Splash Club, as well as the Mermaid strip club.

The sale caused an up-roar amongst local business owners, who were worried it would turn the area into a red light district.

Council engineers have been inspecting the building and further examination by structural engineers will be required.

Auckland Council spokesperson Glen Walter said the issue had only been identified in the last day.

Police advise motorists to avoid the area or face long delays.

The building was once owned by Dominion Breweries. 

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

Do they construct buildings out of sand up in JAFAville?

In the REAL NZ, it takes an earthquake to cause buildings to start falling apart like that.

Perhaps the building is like many JAFAs....all front and no substance, eh?         

[akadaka]

did make me think though if the sky tower constuction could of helped a bit.It's only about 50 metres away from the actual tower where they dug and pounded a massive hole a few years back!!Still i expect engineers will fix all the cracks then the chow brothers can fill it up with a few more cracks

[guest49]

: Central Auckland streets have been closed because a building planned as a Rugby World Cup brothel has large cracks in it.

Mmmmmmmm...

Nowhere near april the 1st, is it?

[Brownie55]

Hmmmmmm  First christchurch's manchester St....our red light area and now and auckland brothel!
iIs there a message here?   

[Magoo]

brothel has large cracks in it.

Well !!!!  Really.       I suppose it would have.

[dragontamer]

brothel has large cracks in it.

Well !!!!  Really.       I suppose it would have.

Trust you to spot that pmsl

[Magoo]

 

 Looks like they fixed the cracks.  http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4360666/Aucklands-historic-Palace-demolished

[nitpicker1]

 Looks like they fixed the cracks.  http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4360666/Aucklands-historic-Palace-demolished

hysterical building destroyed = massive conspiracy.  The cracks were only PAINTED on. 

[ssweetpea]

Sad to see the Aurora go.

No Nitz, those cracks weren't painted on. Mr Sp could see them. He caught the bus home from very near there last night. He had to do some walking to find the bus since the normal stop for all of the North Shore buses was within the cordon.

From the sounds of it the foundations started to crumble. Why, after 121 years that should happen is another question.

Let us hope that the penialities for demolishing historic buildings have been beefed up since developers pulled down so many of Auckland's historic buildings in the 1980s and 90s.

[nitpicker1]

Sad to see the Aurora go.

No Nitz, those cracks weren't painted on. Mr Sp could see them. He caught the bus home from very near there last night. He had to do some walking to find the bus since the normal stop for all of the North Shore buses was within the cordon.

From the sounds of it the foundations started to crumble. Why, after 121 years that should happen is another question.

Let us hope that the penialities for demolishing historic buildings have been beefed up since developers pulled down so many of Auckland's historic buildings in the 1980s and 90s.

Sweetie, most of the stuff I post is a satirical comment 

the foundations started to crumble. Why, after 121 years that should happen is another question

Someone been digging into the vaults under the casino?

[Calliope]

Sad to see the Aurora go.

From the sounds of it the foundations started to crumble. Why, after 121 years that should happen is another question.

I guess the old lady died of shame

[ssweetpea]

LOL Calliope

The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union had its origins at the tavern 147 years ago

That comment makes sense only when you realise that would have been in the previous building on the site, also a tavern.

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

[Im2Sexy4MyPants]

Chow For Now

Lady Who fly upside Down Bound To Have Crack Up

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

Chows make debut on Kiwi Rich List

Fairfax NZ News | 5:00AM - Friday, 26 July 2013


IN THE MONEY: John and Michael Chow's company the Chow
Group claims on its website to control more than $200 million
in real estate. — ROSS GIBLIN/Fairfax NZ.

BROTHEL OPERATORS and property developers the Chow brothers have been busy in Auckland and Wellington over the past year, with their efforts landing them on the Rich List for the first time.

John and Michael Chow emigrated from Hong Kong in 1984 and cut their teeth in business working at their parents' takeaway joint in Wellington's Courtenay Place.

The brothers moved into property, first in Wellington and more recently in Auckland, and their Chow Group claims on its website to control more than $200 million in real estate, with ambitions to hit $1 billion by 2020.

The National Business Review puts the brothers' net worth at $50m. John Chow declined to answer questions about his inclusion on the Rich List.

The brothers were quick to move into the sex trade after prostitution was decriminalised in 2003, opening Wellington's first legal brothel, Il Bordello.

Several other brothels, and gyms, supplement the Chow Group's operations.

The Chow brothers' move north attracted headlines in 2010 with their plans to build a 15-storey hotel and brothel complex opposite the Sky Tower. After some controversy the red-light project has finally got the green light.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/8965937/Chows-make-debut-on-Kiwi-Rich-List

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

from the HERALD on SUNDAY....

Chows' super-brothel plan is off

By BEVAN HURLEY | 10:00AM - Sunday, March 30, 2014


A lengthy battle over liquor licensing has exhausted the Chows' patience. — Photo: Michael Craig.

STRIP CLUB owners the Chow brothers have dropped plans for a controversial, central-city, 15-floor super-brothel, in a last-minute backdown welcomed by opponents of Auckland's burgeoning flesh trade.

The proposed brothel, across the road from SkyCity casino and the thriving Federal Street restaurant precinct, had been approved by the Auckland Council — disregarding concerns it would create a 24/7 sex, booze and crime neighbourhood.

But this weekend, in an exclusive interview with the Herald on Sunday, John Chow said a bruising liquor licensing battle had exhausted the brothers' patience.

"I think with the new liquor licence and the law change, we will be looking to reconsider our project opposite SkyCity," he said. "We need to balance the risks and make a commercial decision. The project had been dragging on for some time, and sometimes you lose your mojo."

The Chows will consider building apartments or a hotel, or might sell the land which has been vacant since November 2010.

The project had been mired in controversy from the outset. In November 2010, as the Chows were renovating the former Palace Hotel to turn it into a brothel, structural damage forced the Auckland Council to demolish the building. It handed the brothers a quarter-million-dollar demolition bill.

In its judgment, due to be released next week, the Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority says the evidence from Le Prou and others "totally lacked credibility".

"The authority is aware that there is a longstanding and bitter dispute raging between the Chow brothers and the owners of the Calendar Girls operations," says deputy secretary Allan Cannell. "The functions of the authority do not include arbitrating over a turf war being waged by trade competitors."

Despite the win, John Chow was concerned a new liquor licence application for the super-brothel could become mired in another costly legal battle, and could delay opening for up to nine months after its completion.

"If we get everything built, if one or two people object, it can drag on for six to nine months. That would be a big disaster. You cannot trade. It makes life very difficult. We need to balance the risks of the business."

He did not want to comment on the feud with Calendar Girls. "It's not my nature to talk about other operators."

Auckland City Missioner Diane Robertson said she preferred to see the location used for a more inclusive purpose. "This is where most of our tourists come. If we want a really truly vibrant place to be, I don't think that's the best type of business."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11228912


Editorial: NZ doesn't need its own Sin City

HERALD on SUNDAY | 4:15AM - Sunday, March 30, 2014


John (left) and Michael Chow have decided not
to go ahead with their proposed fifteen-floor
super-brothel. — Photo: Paul Estcourt.

NEW ZEALAND's biggest metropolis stands at a juncture. Do Auckland residents wish to compete with the likes of Las Vegas and Macau for the glitzy yet dubious title of Sin City? Or do they wish to play to the city's strengths, its bountiful green hills and stunning volcanic cones, its sparkling harbours and the warm, laidback hospitality of its people?

This decisive opportunity is presented by the drafting of Auckland's unitary plan, and this critical moment at which the city decides whether to take to its heart a stark, harshly-lit 24/7 gambling, alcohol and prostitution precinct.

Sex industry moguls John and Michael Chow reveal in today's Herald on Sunday that they have pulled the pin on plans for a 15-floor super-brothel, across the road from the expanding SkyCity Casino. "The project had been dragging on for some time and sometimes you lose your mojo," John Chow says.

Almost perversely, the deciding factor for the Chow brothers was not neighbours' objections to the brothel, nor their fight with Auckland Council over the forced demolition of the damaged Palace Hotel, nor even the ensuing protracted litigation with their insurer, AIG.

No, what finally stopped them was an unseemly battle with fellow sex hustler Jacqui Le Prou of Calendar Girls, who tried unsuccessfully to stop them renewing a liquor licence for a smaller strip club and brothel on Karangahape Road.

The Licensing Authority judgment this week describes a "bitter turf war" between the Chows and Le Prou in which neither side has behaved reputably.

John Chow, it says, is "a hard-nosed businessman with few scruples" whose Wellington strip club and brothel served patron Peter Black so much alcohol that he fell down a stormwater drain and died. Chow recently admitted a police charge of disorderly behaviour in a clash with a former employee.

On the other side, Le Prou's Wellington strip club has lost its liquor licence and been placed in receivership owing more than $1 million; the testimony of her husband James Samson, a convicted meth dealer, was described by the authority as "unsatisfactory".

The Chows reportedly own 70 per cent of Wellington's sex industry; Le Prou is the biggest player in Christchurch's trade. But their battle for control of Auckland has, it seems, exhausted them all. Coinciding with the Chows' revelation they are backing out of their super-brothel plans, it emerges that Le Prou's Auckland premises on K Road are being sold from under her.

If Le Prou and the Chows are forced to retrench, many Aucklanders will say good riddance to bad rubbish. But they would be wrong to assume that means an end to their plans for a sex, booze and gambling precinct. Auckland Council commissioners have already granted resource consent for the super-brothel, notably unopposed by SkyCity. John Chow indicates he may just sell the property to another operator.

As early as next month, Parliament will consider a bill allowing Auckland Council to regulate where street prostitutes can solicit for business.

And in May, the council is to respond to unitary plan submissions opposing the classification of brothels and strip clubs as "entertainment facilities", permitted everywhere, from the city centre to neighbourhood shops.

This is the time and the opportunity to decide the public image the city presents to the world. Will the new Auckland be fresh-faced and beautiful? Or will it sell itself as the painted harlot of the Pacific?

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11228826

[nitpicker1]

Breath-taking NZ scenery forms backdrop of blue film

By Kirsty Wynn

4:15 AM Sunday Mar 30, 2014

...Filmmakers love using New Zealand's breath-taking scenery as a backdrop for Hollywood blockbusters such as The Last Samurai and Lord of the Rings — and now, it seems, high-end porn.

Four luxurious Bay of Islands holiday homes were reportedly rented by American producers of adult films and the shocked owners were unaware — until clean-up time.

The eight cast and crew paid around $2,000 a night for the resort-style accommodation in Russell.

A friend of one of the owners said suspicions were raised when the booking seemed to be under a fake name, but the discovery of a likely porn-movie link was made only after the guests had departed. ... Steve Crow said it was not unusual for American cast and crew to visit New Zealand.

"It's the same with all movies. They come here for our amazing scenery, and the costs are still lower then doing it at home. ...

read the rest 

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11228868

booking seemed to be under a fake name but $$$ smelled loverly and their tax is minimal ?

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

[nitpicker1]

More concerns have been raised about the nature in which the two most dominant players in New Zealand's adult entertainment industry are running their business, and what happens behind closed doors.

Last night 3rd Degree revealed details of the high-stakes battle between New Zealand's two rival strip club owners, including more allegations of dodgy dealings behind the Chow brothers' sex empire.

http://www.3news.co.nz/Fresh-allegations-against-Chow-brothers-clubs/tabid/423/articleID/339502/Default.aspx

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

The heavyweights of New Zealand are in a no-holds-bar fight over striptease. It is down and dirty, so who will win the sex industry wars?

http://www.3news.co.nz/Fresh-allegations-against-Chow-brothers-clubs/tabid/423/articleID/339502/3news.co.nz/Police-accused-of-taking-sides-in-strip-club-wars/tabid/1771/articleID/339472/Default.aspx


chow bros?