Palace Theatre Redevelopment Plans Altered Ahead Of Rally

The rally to rescue Melbourne’s iconic Palace Theatre from being destroyed in favour of constructing a $180 million luxury apartment complex is set to take place this weekend, with hopes to draw 30,000 supporters to the live music venue’s cause.

Spearheaded by the ‘Save The Palace’ group and Melbourne Heritage Australia, the rally is set to take place in Melbourne on Saturday 12th October to protest against the proposal made by property developers Jinshan Investments in June for the 31 storey construction of a W Hotel branch: a 205-room, 145 apartment complex built across 20,000 square metres – at the top end of Bourke Street at the site of the 2,000 capacity live music venue.

Despite previous comments from Victorian Planning Minister Matthew Guy that developers were “dreaming” if they planned to have current submissions approved, with alarming property images of the hotel development showing what the top end of Bourke Street would look like without the Palace Theatre, new developments have show that approvals for the site have only been delayed rather than outrightly rejected.

As previously reported, reports from the Save The Palace group indicated that a Future Melbourne Committee meeting held on Tuesday 10th September showed that Jinshan Investments’ application had been put on hold in order for them to rework the proposal.

Now it seems that developers have reworked their $180m project in efforts to have it satisfy Melbourne City Council’s concerns.

As the Save The Palace group has alerted Tone Deaf, a Future Melbourne Committee meeting is being held tonight that does not have the Palace Theatre proposal listed on its agenda, “that means that the next meeting on 12th November could be the time fram for Councillors to vote on [the final decision],” writes lobbyist Chris Thrum.

As UrbanMelbourne.info reports, the developers have indeed reworked their proposals for the W Hotel Complex, namely in reducing the size and height of the development, directly addressing Planning Minister Guy’s comments that “it is too tall,” but disregarding his remark that “it is in the wrong location.”

Following direct feedback from Melbourne Council Town Planning and Councillors from a recent meeting, the developers have return with amnded plans that reduce the nearly 100 metre tall, 8 metre wide to a height “now expected to reach 72.25 metres,” writes UrbanMelbourne.info’s Mark Baljak. “In reducing height, the development team have decreased the setback to Bourke Street to 5 metres in order to somewhat mitigate the lessened development yield.”

(Image: An artist rendering of the amended W Hotel Complex proposal. Source: UrbanMelbourne.info)

The roughly 27 metre cuts to the plans retain a similar external design for the W Hotel complex, while overall apartment numbers would be reduced to around 90 (from the original 145) while retaining a similar figure of 200 hotel rooms.

Even with the amendments, the amended proposal is still 49.35 metres above the height control limit for the precinct – set at 23 metres – as well as moving the building closer to the sidewalk (by three metres). But Melbourne Town Planning were also concerned about the building’s shadow overlay towards Parliament.

Aside from Council’s concerns over approving the proposal, the community backlash to the proposed development has only intensified in recent months.

(Image: the current interior of the Palace Theatre. Source: Melbourne Heritage Action)

Melbourne Heritage Action have urged formal objections to the proposed development (which can be read here) and its negative impact on local culture, while putting forward an application for the Palace’s heeritage listing to be updated; currently the venue’s facade is protected but an update would protect the entire building. MHA have also put together an online gallery that demonstrates the venue’s historic detailing and beautiful interiors that are at risk.

Meanwhile organisers of this Saturday’s Save The Palace rally are hoping to increase the impact of the public outcry, head-hunting local musicians, government figures, and heritage staff, while the Facebook page for the event (which quotes Tone Deaf’s own opinion piece on the matter) calls on industry, punters, and public alike to add their support to the venue. The iconic site is currently one of the “few medium sized venues that can host the bigger Australian acts as well as international touring bands,” as Music Victoria CEO Patrick Donovan previously put it.

At this point, the ultimate ruling falls to the outcome of the Melbourne Future Committee, who must decide between preserving one of Melbourne’s most historic live music venues or razing an important piece of culture in favour of the economic benefits of introducing a 5-star hotel into a fruitful part of the CBD.