The prospect of a whopping rates increase won't be enough to make Hamilton City Council chop money for a new theatre, councillors say.

They'd seen the dream of a $75m riverside theatre with a state-of-the-art auditorium.

On Monday, Hamilton City councillors had to decide whether to hand over $25m towards a replacement for the now-defunct Founders Theatre.

Armed with walking sticks, newspaper articles and a take-no-crap attitude, members of the Hamilton Residents and Ratepayers Association came to have their say about rate increases, sewerage, 1080 poisoning and climate change.

The Hamilton City Council is discussing plans to acquire and bowl a suite of buildings along Victoria St to extend the newly developed Victoria on the River urban park to Embassy Park beside the proposed theatre.

A revitalised CBD and creative arts community in Hamilton is likely with the building of a new performing arts theatre in the city, according to backers of the plan.

Hamilton’s community groups are being invited to signal if they are interested in potentially taking over Founders Theatre.

The fate of Founders Theatre remains in the balance while Hamilton City Council asks the public for their thoughts on what to do with the building.

Hamilton City Council has committed in principle to spend $30 million as the city's contribution to the proposed new Waikato Regional Theatre, despite concerns over the rising cost.

The fate of Hamilton's old theatre is up for debate, as councillors grapple with costs for a proposed replacement.

Hamilton City Council will be asking residents for their thoughts on both the mothballed Founders Theatre and the proposed Waikato Regional Theatre around October and November 2017.

Two significant theatre projects will be the subject of public consultation processes following today’s Hamilton City Council meeting.

The Council wants wider public feedback on the proposed Waikato Regional Theatre and the future of Founders Theatre, which was closed in February 2016 due to safety concerns.

A revitalised CBD and creative arts community in Hamilton is likely with the building of a new performing arts theatre in the city, according to backers of the plan.

We're $15m closer to having one of the best theatres in the country.

A proposed Waikato Regional Theatre could put Hamilton back on the touring circuit and be the envy of other cities, according to heavyweights in the performing arts area.

The new "world-class" Waikato regional theatre will transform and regenerate the heart of Hamilton, say international theatre and acoustics consultants from Charcoalblue.

The theatre will also offer education opportunities to a new generation and will attract national and international productions to the city.

A comprehensive feasibility report for a new Waikato Regional Theatre has been presented to the Hamilton City Council, recommending a river-facing performing arts centre with flexible functionality.

Waikato people can now get their first look at the new theatre.

The proposed venue has been designed for the former Hamilton Hotel site in Victoria Street. It would also house an art gallery and possibly a boutique hotel overlooking the river.

Community Foundations are set up to encourage personal generosity at a local level. They have grown rapidly throughout New Zealand over the past 10-15 years due to their attractive philosophy and sustainable structure. They are characterised by being community-owned and driven, grassroots organisations which are highly responsive to local conditions and opportunities. Having local people involved as donors, advisers and volunteers generates strong community ownership and accountability, and creates valuable local knowledge. 

Each week 85 people move to Hamilton. With the huge Peacocke housing development planned to the south, construction of Ruakura Inland Port to the east, and a $60 million regional theatre planned, Hamilton is seeing massive growth.

A senior Hamilton City Council general manager has welcomed the announcement of a river location for Hamilton’s proposed new theatre.

It's central, it's unexpected, it has river views - but where will we park?

Wednesday's announcement of the former Hamilton Hotel as the suggested site for a new Waikato theatre has got the region talking.

The project to replace the mothballed Founders Theatre is a partnership between philanthropic organisation Momentum Waikato and the Hamilton City Council.

Roll out the red carpet - Waikato's new marquee theatre promises to be something special.

It will be smack bang in the middle of Hamilton's entertainment precinct, and a stone's throw from the river.

Other prime spots to replace the now-defunct Founders Theatre were swept aside in favour of the historic Hamilton Hotel building on the corner of Victoria Street and Sapper Moore-Jones Place.

When Gordon Chesterman was a young reporter at the Waikato Times in Victoria St in the mid-1960s, his editor Fred Fisher had a daily ritual at the Hamilton Club. 

Says Chesterman: "Every lunchtime, Fisher would push back his office chair, put his pipe in his mouth and walk down to the Hamilton Club in Grantham St for a delicious hot meal."

They have 25 possible places to put a new Waikato Regional Theatre, but the experts aren't giving many clues about them.

The closure of Hamilton's Founders Theatre in March 2016 left the region with a "missing tooth" in the performing arts field, an expert says.