Cinema plan for Perth CBD
Perth’s heritage-listed Piccadilly Arcade could be a working cinema again, but not in the short term, under a $12 million redevelopment proposal.
More than a year after the CBD’s last remaining cinema shut its doors, the site’s three cinemas and foyer could be converted into retail tenancies.
Under a proposed redevelopment the existing retail arcade would be upgraded and the Hay Street and Murray Street facades restored to be closer to their original 1938 art deco appearance. The upper levels would be converted into one big retail tenancy for a new anchor tenant, with escalators to connect the two floors.
A report to yesterday’s City of Perth planning committee said design options to upgrade or expand the cinemas had been looked at and discussed with potential operators. But instead it proposed using lightweight flooring that would allow for future conversion of the tenancy back to a cinema.
An artist's impression of the Perth redevelopment.
“These options allowed for boutique or pop-up operations, as well as more mainstream ‘multiplex’ models involving four or more cinemas,” the report said.
“Unfortunately no proposal that retains a cinema use in any capacity has proven viable with any of the potential operators.
"The development is therefore proposed to be undertaken in a way that will allow the development to be reversible to allow for a cinema use to be returned to the upper levels should circumstances permit at some point in the future."
