New owners plan $50m redevelopment of Minerva theatre in Kings Cross
From Mad Max to a world post-vax: one of Sydney’s most iconic former theatres is set to be restored in a planned $50 million operation to bring life back to lockout – and lockdown – shattered Kings Cross.
The 1939 art deco Metro-Minerva building – granted a state heritage listing in late 2020 after a community campaign to prevent it from being converted into a storage site – could now be renovated as an auditorium and a series of performance spaces with a hotel above.
Following months of consultations with the City of Sydney, the NSW government and local representatives, a development application is being lodged on July 26 to turn the old headquarters of filmmaker George Miller, where Mad Max, Babe and Happy Feet were created, back to its former glory.
“We’re passionate about restoring this building’s history and culture and turning it into an economic driver for the area,” said Wayne Chivas, director of development company Central Element, which bought the theatre six months ago.
“Many would have liked to see it brought back to a 1000-seat theatre but, with building and safety standards very different now to what they were back when it was built, that isn’t possible.
“But we are trying to bring our interpretation of the historical nature of the building, with a series of performance spaces, and we feel honoured with this opportunity.”
Upstairs, three more levels tiered back from the facade would be added to become a four to five-star boutique hotel with 63 rooms and underground car parking.
An economic impact assessment by Urbis predicts the project could bring more than $2 million in retail spending to the area and deliver more than 100 full-time jobs. The hotel alone could attract an extra 30,000 visitors a year.
“We want to deliver something of which we, and the broader community, can be proud,” said Mr Chivas, who went to a performance of the long-running musical Hair at the theatre when he was a teenager and whose late father, acclaimed tenor Gordon Chivas, he believes may once have sung on its stage.
“It’s been very sad to see this beautiful building with a big lock on the front of it and people not able to use it. It isn’t a private domain; it should be open to the public. Everyone knows this building, and everyone has a story about it.”
The Minerva Theatre opened at the start of WWII and was rebranded as The Metro in 1950. It also operated as a cinema before having its stage, seating, stalls and dress circle removed to turn it into a specialty food market that lasted only six months.
Between 1981 and 2018, it was owned by Kennedy Miller and used as film production offices with a haul of eight Oscars until being bought by Abacus Property Group in 2019 for $19.8 million.
At the start of 2021, it was purchased for an undisclosed sum by Central Element, which is also renovating the old Academy Twin Cinema and Grand Pacific Blue Room on the Darlinghurst-Paddington border, with partners Boston Global, into a boutique hotel, a rooftop restaurant and bar, function centre and medical facility.
The Potts Point building will revert to the name The Minerva Theatre, with TZG Architects appointed for the renovation. Central Element senior development manager Dean La Vigne said, “I love the idea of working with theatre conservation and such a unique offering.”
The DA will now be considered by the City of Sydney, and a full series of community consultations undertaken.
