Metro Minerva Theatre in Potts Point bought by Gretel Packer

The Metro Minerva Theatre, the art-deco darling of Potts Point has been saved, at least for now.

The white knight is none other than Gretel Packer, who has along with her mother Ros, has a long history of involvement in the arts, and theatre in particular.

Both have been benefactors of Sydney’s theatre scene, with Ros Packer having the Sydney Theatre Company’s main performance space named after her, and from 2014 to recently, Gretel was on the STC board.

During her time as a board member, Gretel Packer was not only concerned with the direction of the company, but also donated considerable financial support, including funding much of the 2021 season after Covid tore the company’s finances apart.

While we have no statement from Packer as to her intentions for the grand old dame of the Cross, we do know that she paid $25.85 million to developer Central Element for the theatre.

This comes after a long and steady decline of the building after film producer George Miller sold it to Abacus Property Group in 2019 for $19.8 million, who did not have a plan for the purchase.

Then-Liberal City of Sydney councillor Christine Forster put a motion for the council to buy the building, with the intention that it would become a town hall.

The motion was dismissed by Team Clover, consisting of Jess Scully, Robert Kok, Jess Miller and Philip Thalis, with the Lord Mayor passing the buck to the State Government.

City Hub reported at the time that Clover Moore said “the Metro Theatre should also be considered within the broader context of the NSW Government cultural infrastructure strategy”.

The Liberal Minister for the Arts Don Harwin became a strong champion, along with the Metro-Minerva Theatre Action Group, but was thwarted when the Berejiklian government collapsed.

In 2020, with Harwin’s help, the Metro-Minerva Action Group succeeded in listing the 1,000 seat theatre on the NSW State Heritage Register.

Meanwhile Abacus, whose main business is in storage units, sold the theatre to developers Central Element, who submitted a DA to turn the space into 63 roomed boutique hotel, complete with a French-operated cabaret space for 250 in the basement. So much for local content.

The plan received 162 objections and 11 submissions in support. Central Element then proceeded with a flawed campaign refuting that the theatre was structurally or economically viable as an operating space, despite a number of reports commissioned by the MMTAG , City of Sydney and Create NSW stating the opposite.

In 2022 the City of Sydney requested more information from the applicants, who claimed that their proposal would not just retain the Metro Minerva’s cultural significance, “it will enhance it”.

“Not so” said the Metro-Minerva Theatre Action Group, who organised a community protest featuring speaker local MP Alex Greenwich, Sydney Festival director Olivia Ansell, entertainers Marcia Hines and John Waters, who starred in the 1970 production of Hair at the theatre.

Other performers on the day included Mark Trevorrow, Cindy Pastel, Christa Hughes and Catherine Alcorn.

Three hundred and fifty people turned up and a petition was taken up that gathered over 1000 signatures in a couple of weeks.

The theatre’s future was now in the hands of Ben Franklin, the new arts minister, who failed to gain any traction within the economically hard-nosed Perrottet government.

It was the same for John Graham when the government changed hands in 2023.

There seemed to be no skin in the game for a electorate that was firmly behind the independent Alex Greenwich.

All the while, with mounting holding costs and the cost of re-submission of plans, Central Element were getting cold feet for their ideas that would close off any potential for the space to be returned to the community as a world-class theatre.

Earlier this year Central Element quietly put the building up for sale, along with the DA.

When all was seeming lost, in steps Ms Packer, who will need deep pockets and a steely will to see the 1939 building return as part of Sydney’s theatre stock.

Right now the Potts Point/Kings Cross community and the theatre going public and practitioners wish her all the best, as we look forward to a special opening night some time in the near future.

John Moyle is a member of the Metro-Minerva Theatre Action Group.