Redcliffe’s Pier Theatre Site Comes to Market

The site of a former theatre, approved for a 12-storey tower about 10 years ago, has come to market in Queensland for the first time in seven decades.

The landmark Pier Theatre site spanning 2500sq m at 115-131 Redcliffe Parade is approved for 82 apartments above 748sq m retail space and a food and beverage outlet.

Described by Cushman and Wakefield, who are conducting an expressions-of-interest campaign for the site, as a “precinct-shaping, oceanfront development opportunity”, this is the first time in 70 years the site has been for sale.

The site has frontage to Redcliffe and Sutton Street, and is 27km north of the Brisbane CBD.

“Revenues for developers are underpinned by the ability to achieve premium ocean view lines,” Cushman and Wakefield said.

“[The site is] improved by the Pier Theatre, an iconic retail building that provides short-term holding income.

“The region’s record population growth and historically low vacancy rates provide favourable market conditions to developers for potential residential projects.”

The expressions-of-interest campaign is due to close on June 6.

In March last year, The Urban Developer reported that the approved development was given the green light more than a decade ago.

▲ It is the first time in 70 years the site has been for sale.

Its approval has subsequently been extended thrice, most recently on March 17, 2023.

During the process of that most recent extension, the council advised developer Peninsula Theatres that the inclusion of the existing theatre facade into the design as part of a “minor” change application was a condition of any further request for an extension of the approval currency period beyond the then current period that ended on March 18 of that year.

At the time, the Moreton Bay Regional Council advised the developer its existing design approach was “not sufficient to comply with the expectations” of the current planning scheme.

The revised plans came after considerable community backlash against the proposed demolition of the historic theatre, including a plea from the Redcliffe Historical Society to save the facade as it “represents 93 years of film-going by the sea”.

The original Redcliffe Picture Palace opened on the site in 1917. After a fire in 1943, the theatre was rebuilt with a brick facade. It closed about 1970 and has since been partially demolished, leaving the portion of the building fronting Redcliffe Parade still standing.

▲ The Redcliffe facade as it is today, left, and two images of the theatre in its heyday.