The British venue and events company which expressed interest in buying and renovating the Palace Theatre earlier in the year, has confirmed it is still interested in the purchase.
The firm’s Australian director is Greg Young, former owner and managing director of The Palace nightclub. The club was told to quit the building in May amidst public protest.
Young confirmed to Beat that an offer had been put to the site’s Chinese owner, Jinsham Investments. Details of the offer are not known. Jinsham bought the building in 2012 for $11.3 million. It is believed that Jinshan would demand between $20 million to $35 million to sell.
The British company has been lobbying the Government and Opposition parties for most of this year, and held discussions with the music industry.
Last Tuesday, Young again addressed the City of Melbourne’s Future Melbourne Committee’s meeting when it discussed its heritage plans for the Palace Theatre, and reiterated the company’s continued interest.
Its idea is that after restoring the building to its past glory, it can be used for a number of entertainment purposes. Its plan is to host global telecasts of live shows from there. Some in the music industry have mooted it as the headquarters of the new State Government’s Music Market hub. It would house the Victorian Music Hall of Fame, a recording and performance space and a creative office where music, technology, financial and business groups can work together and identify new opportunities for initiatives.
A sale will depend on whether Jinshan now feels that its initial investment in the Bourke Street building is worth holding on to. Its original intention for a lavish five star hotel and apartments has been whittled down to a modest seven storey hotel after its building plans were blocked.
After aggravating more protests when it destroyed many original fittings (for “safety reasons”) at a time when the City was still debating its heritage protection, Jinshan has now applied for a demolition order.
This will be discussed tomorrow (Tuesday) by the Future Melbourne Committee. But early indications are the demolition application could be rejected. The City’s Manager of Planning and Building has already made a recommendation that “The extent of the proposed demolition cannot be supported having regard to the historical and social significance of the place. As such, the application cannot be supported.”
Last Monday the City of Melbourne was advised that Jinshan had lodged an appeal with the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal against its failure to make a decision on its building application within the prescribed 60 days.
Last Tuesday (December 2) hours before the Future Melbourne Committee met to discuss heritage protection, independent heritage consultant Graeme Butler released a report which reversed his earlier recommendation. Butler’s amended view was that since Jinshan had destroyed many of its original fittings, the building was no longer worth saving.
That night, the Committee resolved in part to adopt the Statement of Significance in Butler’s heritage review report, and to seek authorization from the new Minister for Planning to prepare and exhibit Planning Scheme Amendment C241. This seeks to introduce permanent heritage controls for the site so that it is within its’ own Heritage Overlay. The adopted statement of significance has been considered as part of the assessment of the planning application.
The Planning and Building manager also advised that since the planning application issue was to be heard by VCAT, “This means that a decision cannot be made on the application. However the City of Melbourne must still form a view in relation to the application which would then form the basis of the City of Melbourne’s submissions at the appeal hearing.”
Greens councillor Rohan Leppert told the The Age that Council had taken too long to act to protect the former nightclub. “The contempt that the big end of town has for Melbourne’s cultural heritage shows once again how deficient our planning rules are,” he said.
