Things have been somewhat quiet on the Palace Theatre front in recent months, but it looks like things are getting busy again with reports that the beloved venue will reopen, but not as a music space.
According to The Age, the Palace Theatre is set to reopen as a retail store. New plans to refurbish the front of the venue were announced on Thursday, as the battle to save the building from demolition continues.
Matthew Mattiske, from project managers Sinclair Brook, told Fairfax the site’s owners, Jinshan Investments, had received a building permit for “strip-out works” to prepare the theatre for a retail space.
The announcement followed reports electric tools were heard operating inside the building, leading to fears that workers were again stripping the century-old interiors from the theatre as they did in November.
Council enforcement officers were called out to investigate reports of skips of material being removed from the building, but a council spokeswoman claims they found “insufficient evidence to seek entry to inspect the building”.
Adam Jacks, manager of Little Bourke Street restaurant Mrs Parma’s, said he had seen two skips of materials removed from the theatre, which long stood as one of Melbourne’s favourite venues, on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“It did seem like plastering and that sort of stuff they were taking away,” he said. “I think they sort of got in there quickly and left.” Members of the Save The Palace grassroots group took photos of items left in the alleyway near the building.
News of the construction has been criticised by Save the Palace spokeswoman Rebecca Leslie, who said former management of the Palace Theatre were already paying significant rent before their lease came to an end in May last year.
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“The Melbourne music industry has suffered for 12 months and it might not even recover,” she said. Ms Leslie told Fairfax she was worried about the fate of a 100-year marble staircase and the theatre’s balconies.
“I would hope the building surveyor didn’t give them approval to be removing and altering stuff on the inside that is a bone of contention with the heritage review at the moment,” she said.
Last week, Jinshan Investments submitted amended plans for the site to the Victorian Civil and Administration Tribunal, which would see a slice of the theatre’s facade retained, but the rest demolished for a 12-storey hotel.
