Hotel would rob arts groups of performance space

A MOVE to develop the Marion Cultural Centre site with a hotel will rob arts groups of performance space already at a premium across Adelaide, a local theatre ensemble says.

True North Theatre Director Alirio Zavarce with Tyler Evans, 16, and Tahlia Weaver, 15, are concerned about a move to build a hotel on the Marion Cultural Centre site. Picture: AAP/Roy VanDerVegt

• Marion Council considers selling cultural centre to make way for international hotel

A MOVE to develop the Marion Cultural Centre site with a hotel will rob arts groups of performance space already at a premium across Adelaide, a local theatre ensemble says.

However, the SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre believes a multinational hotel group will help put the complex on a “higher playing field” when it hosts major swimming events.

Marion Council will this month call for expressions of interest from businesses interested in building a hotel on the site, which now features a library, art gallery and theatre.

As part of the process, the businesses will need to explain how they could either incorporate the centre’s current facilities on site, or help them be rebuilt nearby.

True North Youth Theatre Ensemble artistic director Alirio Zavarce said there were already too few place in Adelaide for performances.

“The cultural identity of Marion is based around the cultural centre,” Mr Zavarce says.

“I’m quite shocked to hear that potentially it could vanish.”

His organisation started a new southern group at the Oaklands Park centre last year.

“The theatre is just amazing,” Mr Zavarce says.

He doubted a new theatre set up as part of a hotel complex would suit local arts groups, compared with being part of a cultural centre set up “to nourish the community”.

Marion Council this month announced it was interested in a hotel being built on the site, after it was approached by a multinational group with an unsolicited bid for the land.

Following the November local government elections, the council will decide whether to forge ahead with the project, and if so, which proposal to pursue.

SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre general manager Adam Luscombe said a new hotel so close to the centre would be “an absolute massive bonus”.

“You’ve only got to look at how well the Novotel works at Sydney Olympic Park,” Mr Luscombe said.

“It puts us on a higher playing field.”

Mr Luscombe said most people travelling to Adelaide for swimming events stayed at Glenelg.

“Anything that’s going to aid that and create a Holdfast Bay/Marion mecca for accommodation is great,” he said.

“It just spreads the love for people spending money.”

Marion Mayor Kris Hanna said the council would ensure that the cultural centre’s user groups had equal or better facilities under any move to build a hotel.

“We do take a caring approach when we have to accommodate people along the way,” Mr Hanna said.

Cr Bruce Hull, who represents Oaklands Park, said his community was in “shock and awe” over the announcement, which was also causing anxiety among the centre’s staff.

“The devil is in the detail and we don’t have the detail,” Cr Hull said.