New Plans Filed for $225m Tower on Sydney Cinema Site

The last remaining cinema on Sydney’s George Street entertainment strip will be demolished under plans for a slender $225-million mixed-use tower. 

But the credits aren't rolling yet for the CBD hub, which has been home to theatres and cinemas since the early 1900s. 

A development application filed with the City of Sydney Council has revealed detailed design plans for a 44-storey tower, which will include a five-screen cinema complex.

With a total capacity of 356 seats, the cinema will span three lower levels of the proposed development and will carry on the precinct’s tradition as a mecca for moviegoers. 

The plans filed by ASX-listed Event Hospitality and Entertainment—owner of the 1858sq m site at 525-529 George Street—comprise 115 apartments over 22 levels and a 292-room hotel across 17 levels sitting above a six-level podium, including an upper and lower ground floor. 

A concept plan for the tower was approved in 2020 and a competitive design alternative process was undertaken with Candalepas Associates submitting the successful scheme. 

▲ A render of the 44-storey, mixed-use tower proposed for the Sydney CBD's entertainment strip at 525-529 George Street.

Its ultra-slim tower scheme was deemed “the most likely to achieve design excellence” and favoured for creating an “arresting urban silhouette” with a “subtle, elegant presence on the skyline”.

The podium was also considered to be a more refined approach “capable of achieving a lively public experience [that] responds to the surrounding context and character”.

According to the submitted planning documents, portions of the site have been associated with various forms of theatre and cinema use since 1909.

In 1969, three separate titles were amalgamated into the site the subject of the development application and a decade later the existing structures were demolished and a single Greater Union cinema complex constructed. 

Then, in 1999, the Greater Union and neighbouring Hoyts cinema complexes were amalgamated to form Event Cinemas but the buildings remained in separate ownership and are listed on separate titles.

▲ The existing cinema complex on George Street earmarked for demolition to make way for the new mixed-use tower.

 

Capped with a private rooftop terrace, communal area and an architectural roof feature, Event's proposed George Street tower also features podium-level restaurants and bars, retail tenancies and conference facilities.

“[Overall] the design is contemporary and responsive to the nearby heritage items providing greatly improved frontages to both George and Kent streets,” the design report stated.

Adjoining the site’s northern boundary is 505-523 George Street, for which developers  Mirvac and Combes Property Group in 2020 gained initial approval for a $1-billion, 80-storey residential skycraper, which would be Sydney's tallest apartment tower. 

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Event Hospitality and Entertainment has a $2-billion property portfolio.

It recently also raised the curtain on a new concept proposal for a 33-storey, mixed-use tower rising above Sydney's heritage-listed State Theatre.

The tower is earmarked for a 4160sq m holding owned by its subsidiary Greater Union Organisation.

It is planned to occupy the air space above all of the properties comprising the prominent CBD corner site.

There are four existing buildings on the site, which spans 452-472 George Street and 49-51 Market Street.

To be constructed at a cost of more than $290 million, the new tower would rise above a podium that will replace two of the buildings approved for demolition.