This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
A 15-screen Palace Cinema complex will form a key component of the historic Pentridge Prison site’s ongoing revitalisation.
The cinema will be positioned within a 3,650sqm shopping precinct planned for the iconic location in Melbourne’s inner-northern suburb of Coburg by developer Shayher Group.
Constructed is slated to begin on the two-level precinct next year, with the cinema expected to open in mid-2019.
Shayher Group project spokesman Anthony Goh said Palace Cinemas will play an important role in establishing a new, stylish urban village that celebrates the site’s heritage and brings the local community together to socialise and enjoy cultural experiences.
“Offering the best in mainstream and contemporary international films, Australia’s leading boutique cinema group Palace Cinemas is a natural alignment for the Pentridge retail precinct.
“Our vision for Pentridge is to create a vibrant, well-designed urban village that breathes new life into this historical asset, transforming it from one of Australia’s most prominent jails into a new community hub complete with retail, housing, community areas and open public spaces,” Goh said.
Shayher acquired the Pentridge site in 2013 after the property’s masterplan was finalised February 2009 following an extensive consultation led by the State Government.
This year the group intends to spend around $2 million to restore the former jail’s seven guard towers as part of a wider program of heritage restoration works.
Palace Cinemas chief executive officer Benjamin Zeccola said his family’s vision for Palace on Champ Street in Coburg is to create a warm, vibrant, film, arts, and hospitality hub, which would unite cinema lovers of all ages and cultural backgrounds.
The new Palace Cinemas will bring its mix of mainstream and new release offerings to the new location, as well as its collection of international film festivals of Italy, Spain, and France, among other countries.
Palace launched three new film festivals launched earlier this year and recently confirmed new cinemas for Sydney suburbs Double Bay and Chippendale.
Shayher Group announced in recent groups that TFE Hotels will operate an 12-0-apartment Adina on the Pentridge site, designed by Cox Architecture, and earlier this year that it intends to reactivate the heritage buildings around the precinct located in the south-east corner of the site to act as “a centralised public hub to shop, eat and socialise in and will be economically self-sustainable.”
Australian Property Journal
