Delays for Metro-Minerva Theatre development renews hope for the theatre’s future
Image: Residents call for the restoration of the Metro-Minerva Theatre in Potts Point. Image: Metro Minerva Theatre Action Group/Facebook.
By JUSTIN COOPER
The development plans for the Metro-Minerva Theatre in Potts Point have been halted after the application from owners have been deferred, igniting further calls for the theatre’s restoration.
On Wednesday, City of Sydney Council’s independent planning committee halted the current plans from owners and developers, Central Elements, to transform the building into a hotel and Parisian-style cabaret space.
The development application has needed to be reviewed following the planning committee requested further details on demolition and construction, and to address concerns on the building’s height and noise from the venue.
The plans’ deferral comes at a poignant time, with many calling for the hotel-cabaret development to be scrapped and for the theatre to be restored.
“Heritage heresy”
City Hub spoke with City of Sydney Councillor, Lyndon Gannon, who expressed their desire for the building restoration declaring, “If the theatre goes, it’ll be the final curtain for Kings Cross.”
Cr Gannon explains the return for the 1000-seater Metro-Minerva venue would be an essential part within the Potts Point community for both businesses and the creative industry.
“The economic multiplier effect of having a theatre space of this size in the heart of Potts Point would be huge,” says Cr Gannon.
“Restaurants and bars would be bustling. This is what Sydney needs, and that is what I want to see happen.”
“If it is turned into a hotel, it will sterilise the building. It will never be economical to return it into a theatre. Heritage heresy in my opinion.”
Furthermore, Metro-Minerva Theatre Action Group has led the charge and continued to call upon the building’s restoration as being an “Art Deco Masterpiece and great asset to the history of Sydney”, stated on their mission page.
Essential performing space
Committee member from MMTAG Brandon Martignago spoke with City Hub, expressing that the recent report and delay is the time for the government to finally step in.
“The community [could] lose a critical and cultural piece of Sydney’s art infrastructure without a chance for it to ever be revitalised as a live performance space ever again,” Martignago explains.
“Now that the local planning panel has deferred the decision on this DA, John Graham has a chance to solve his own problem – where he stated that Sydney needs more live performing art spaces.”
NSW Arts Minister John Graham spoke with the Sydney Morning Herald earlier this year, saying he would aim to protect performance spaces within Sydney. Furthermore, Graham says there was potential for the Potts Point and Kings Cross areas to become Sydney’s own theatre district.
Since the purchase and plans from Central Elements last year, the local community has continued to express concerns for the heritage site and questioned the choice for the hotel/cabaret space in the area.
With the DA still to be approved before construction begins, it is unknown what will become of the theatre until further consultations with City Of Sydney Council.
