Late last year Aussie live music fans were given a bit of a shake up after an iconic venue was sneakily listed for sale, the sellers suggesting the space would be ideal residential developments, and this week has revealed that the beloved home of live music has been sold to investors.
Melbourne’s Prince Of Wales Hotel, situated on Fitzroy Street in St Kilda, has been sold to a Chinese buyers, with a planning permit for 66 luxury apartments, as The Age reports.
The building comprising of the notorious upstairs bandroom, pub, a 39-room boutique hotel, restaurant and a day spa was said to be snapped up by Port Melbourne firm Pub Li City for a staggering $45 million, well over the original estimate of $25 million.
The current lease on The Prince Bandroom isn’t up until 2021, so there isn’t necessarily a reason to grow wild with worry that St Kilda is about to lose one of its favourite live music performing spaces immediately, however the lease of course can be broken early.
What’s most concerning is that the lease on the 7000-square-metre Prince Car Park finishes next month, and as The Age report, there’s already talk of a three-level apartment development for the back part of the complex, which could be the beginning of a domino effect for the rest of the building.
Of course, Melbournians do have reason to feel scared for The Prince’s future, if recent precedent is anything to go by, the Hotel could end up with the same fate as Melbourne’s historical CBD venue, The Palace. The case of the Prince has very similar hallmarks akin to The Palace, whose demise begun with a simple “for sale” listing online at the beginning of this year, quickly being snapped up by international investors that will see the fallen venue be turned into a luxury hotel complex.
It’s been a bit of a rocky year for live music venues in Australia, with Perth losing not one, but two important spaces, not to mention Sydney and Adelaide, too.
Thankfully, Australia at large has had some victories this year insofar. Geelong has secured a brand-spanking new performance space, Melbourne scored a live music venue that specialises in dumplings, not to mention Little & Olver and 24 Moons, whilst Brisbane has seen The Brooklyn Standard and Sonny’s House of Blues.
