Construction king’s $43m plan to replace Festival Hall is on beat

AN ambitious plan is underway to transform an old Brisbane supermarket into a ‘new’ Festival Hall - the iconic CBD music venue demolished in 2003 to make way for a residential tower.

Brisbane’s Festival Hall in 1975. It was demolished in 2003 and replaced with a residential tower.

IT’S music to Scott Hutchinson’s ears.

But the chairman of one of Australia’s largest construction companies won’t be adding it to the playlist of 18,000 songs on his smartphone.

Not that the body-rattling backbeat of jackhammers would be completely out of place among some of the other tracks.

Hutchinson’s ever-expanding catalogue of tunes is an eclectic mix with what he calls “a slight post-punk bent to it”.

Even more impressive than its vast musical spectrum is that he has seen most of the acts on his playlist perform live.

“Music is my passion,” Hutchinson says as the ear-splitting symphony of jackhammers continues.

“I’ve always just been a punter. I can’t play. I’m useless. I had a go at guitar when I was a teenager and realised almost instantly that I had no talent.”

Scott Hutchinson inside his new ‘Festival Hall’ development on Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley. Picture: Liam Kidston

But that was never going to stop him embarking on what has become a lifelong musical odyssey.

He collects music, listens to it and — whenever he can — slips away from his day job at Hutchinson Builders to lose himself in music at festivals around the world.

Nevertheless, the foundations of this obsession remain firmly grounded in his hometown, Brisbane — where he grew up listening to his father play country and western records and now oversees his family’s fourth-generation construction business.

Such is Hutchinson’s standing within the music community he was last year made patron of QMusic.

The not-for-profit organisation’s mission is to nurture new talent and keep the local music scene thumping. It also hosts BigSound, Australia’s only annual music conference.

Read more great features in July issue of QBM, inside The Courier-Mail on Friday, June 29.

“I saw dozens and dozens of bands at Festival Hall,” Hutchinson laments, referring to what was once Brisbane’s biggest inner-city music venue.

The 4000-seat Festival Hall stood for 44 years on the corner of Albert and Charlotte streets in the CBD but was demolished in 2003 to make way for a residential tower.

“I was horrified when it was knocked down,” Hutchinson says. “It ripped the musical soul out of the city. It was a terrible loss for Brisbane and ever since I’ve been on a bit of a quest to replace it.”

Hence, the reason we are standing amid the pounding percussion of a Fortitude Valley redevelopment site. It’s not so much a site inspection but more a backstage pass into a musical dream that Hutchinson is finally composing and turning to reality the only way he knows — with concrete, steel and a full line-up of jackhammers.

By this time next year, the jackhammers will be long gone but the decibel levels will still be loud, possibly louder. Brisbane’s long-awaited “new Festival Hall” will be rockin’.

Scott Hutchinson (far left) with his entourage at Nevada's Burning Man festival.

A boyish grin creeps across Hutchinson’s face.

“I’m loving it. I can’t wait. Brisbane has been screaming out for this for the past 15 years.”

Hutchinson Builders, affectionately known as Hutchies, acquired the half acre-plus holding at 312 Brunswick St last year for $23.5 million and plans to invest almost as much in transforming the former Optus Centre into an entertainment venue for up to 3500 people.

“It’s not about the money,” Hutchinson says. “All up it’s going to cost us around $43 million and it’ll get valued at only about $25 million.

“But live music is under threat in Brisbane and somebody has to step in and take the hit and it may as well be Hutchies. It’s my passion and I’m happy to do it.”

Brisbane's Pub Choir, at The Triffid, in Brisbane. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/The Australian

Like it did with Newstead’s 800-capacity The Triffid, Hutchies will build it and be the landlord. It has again also teamed up with former Powderfinger bass player John “JC” Collins and Splendour in the Grass/Falls Festival organiser Paul Piticco from Secret Sound Group — now controlled by global live entertainment behemoth Live Nation.

They will design and operate the yet-to-be named venue, which has been given the working title “Fortitude Hall”.

After a field trip to the US to research the latest live entertainment trends and technology, it was decided to model the new venue on The Fillmore Philidelphia — a 125-year-old building converted into a square 2500-capacity auditorium with wraparound mezzanine and a smaller “club within a club” for showcasing up-and-coming local and touring artists.

The Fillmore Philadelphia music venue in the US.

The Fortitude Valley building that runs from Brunswick St Mall through to Warner St — a position Hutchinson says is “too good to be true” — was built in the 1950s as a Coles supermarket. Its facades will be retained, its roof raised — literally — and a metre-thick layer of soundproofing added to keep the neighbours happy.

Construction of the mid-sized venue is being hailed as a much-needed missing link and boost to an industry Hutchinson says is under siege from soaring inner-city land values as well as “insane” lockout and scanning laws.

The Jackson Five, including a young Michael Jackson on the right, playing Festival Hall in 1973. Picture: Garry Taylor

“There’s still a great incubator of music in Brisbane,” he says. “Fortitude Valley is unique in Australia — nowhere else has that number of small music venues in one place — and that’s what I’m trying to keep alive.

“The music scene in Brisbane is fragile. It’s generally been treated as something that has to be controlled rather than nurtured. If it dies, Brisbane will be Dubbo without a zoo.”

Hutchinson believes the new venue will not only be a game-changer for the local music industry but also the Valley.

“What it’ll do is bring in a different and more diverse crowd and they are going to civilise the Valley a bit, which I think is fine. Also, they are going to become a little less civilised from going to the Valley, which I think is also good.”

Cat Stevens performs at Festival Hall in 1986.

While the 58-year-old says the Brunswick St venue will have better acoustics, better airconditioning, better seats and better bars, he still has fond memories of the old Festival Hall and seeing the likes of Bob Dylan, Sex Pistols, Rodriguez, Jethro Tull, Groove Armada, Blondie and Depeche Mode. It’s no surprise he was also there to watch Michael Franti & Spearhead play the venue’s last show on August 9, 2003. “He just kept playing for hours as if by him playing it could never close,” he recalls.

Hutchinson says he seriously considered buying Festival Hall and ran the rule over it but “the money it went for was far more than I could afford at the time”.

He’s in a much better position now. The business started by his great-grandfather in 1912 has a workbook of 217 active projects and a turnover of almost $3 billion a year.

In July he will jet off to Portugal to see the Arctic Monkeys headline the NOS Alive festival and shortly after he will head to Nevada’s Burning Man festival for the ninth consecutive year.

“I’ll never miss one until I die,” he says. “Other festivals take you away a bit. This one takes you to another planet. It’s 80,000 people doing exactly what they want. Anything you can think of but nothing you can print. There’s also some great acts but they’re not allowed to advertise.”

Good mate and developer Don O’Rorke, executive chairman of Consolidated Properties Group, says it is Hutchinson’s energy and earnest what-you-see-is-what-you-get persona that has been the driving force behind the company’s success as well his personal quest to replace Festival Hall.

“His passion has been there since I first met him when we were at school together,” he says. “It has run from collecting music to now collecting music venues.

Scott Hutchinson and Don O'Rorke. Picture: Marc Robertson

“When they demolished Festival Hall he saw that as a really bad blight on Brisbane’s cultural identity and he has been longing to fill that void ever since.”

O’Rorke — an occasional member of his friend’s musical entourage — also knows better than most that when Hutchinson is in festival mode what you see isn’t always what you’d expect.

“His choice of attire at festivals is always interesting. The pink negligee was one of his better outfits.”

Rock on, Brisbane.

HUTCHIE’S HOTTEST 100

1. Gimme Danger (Iggy & The Stooges)

2. This Perfect Day (The Saints)

3. Sweet Jane (The Velvet Underground)

4. Smack My B**** Up (The Prodigy)

5. Fall Dog Bombs The Moon (David Bowie)

6. When The Sun Goes Down (Arctic Monkeys)

7. All Hands & The Cook (The Walkmen)

8. Where Is My Mind? (Pixies)

9. All I Want (The Cure)

10. Not A Problem (The Black Lips)

11. Gimme Shelter (The Rolling Stones)

12. Santa Monica (Everclear)

13. Bring My Family Back (Faithless)

14. Changing Of The Guards (Bob Dylan)

15. My Pal (GOD)

16. L.A. (Butthole Surfers)

17. Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode)

18. NYC (Interpol)

19. Alexandra Leaving (Leonard Cohen)

20. How’s It Gonna End (Tom Waits)

21. On Melancholy Hill (Gorillaz)

22. Mongoloid (Devo)

23. 99 Problems (Jay- Z)

24. Big New Prinz (The Fall)

25. Crystal (New Order)

26. Frank Sinatra (Cake)

27. Locomotive Breath (Jethro Tull)

28. Don’t Ask Me Questions (Graham Parker & The Rumour)

29. North American Scum (LCD Soundsystem)

30. We Came Along This Road (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds)

31. She’s Lost Control (Joy Division)

32. Solsbury Hill (Peter Gabriel)

33. London Calling (The Clash)

34. Watching The Detectives (Elvis Costello)

35. Giant (Banks & Steelz)

36. 1979 (Smashing Pumpkins)

37. Heart In A Cage (The Strokes)

38. Whatsername (Green Day)

39. While My Guitar Gently Weeps (The Beatles)

40. The Lady Don’t Mind (Talking Heads)

41. That’s Entertainment (The Jam)

42. Ten Crack Commandments (The Notorious B.I.G.)

43. I’m A Little Airplane (The Modern Lovers)

44. Otherside (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

45. Redemption Song (Bob Marley & The Wailers)

46. Sorrow (The National)

47. Losing My Religion (R.E.M.)

48. Black Dog (Led Zeppelin)

49. Everyday Is Like Sunday (Morrissey)

50. Everlong (Foo Fighters)

51. Khe Sanh (Cold Chisel)

52. My Dick (Mickey Avalon)

53. I Wanna Be Sedated (The Ramones)

54. Cuntry Boys & City Girls (The Fratellis)

55. The Star Spangled Banner (Jimi Hendrix)

56. One Crowded Hour (Augie March)

57. Ballrooms Of Mars (T. Rex)

58. Jacqueline (Franz Ferdinand)

59. Unsent Letter (Machine Gun Fellatio)

60. Every You Every Me (Placebo)

61. This Mess We’re In (PJ Harvey feat. Thom Yorke)

62. Corduroy (Pearl Jam)

63. Purple Rain (Prince)

64. Common People (Pulp)

65. Down By The Water (The Decemberists)

66. Saramona Said (Violent Soho)

67. Sunday Bloody Sunday (U2)

68. Anarchy In The UK (Sex Pistols)

69. Thrilloilogy (Powderfinger)

70. Powderfinger (Neil Young)

71. The New Violence (Peabody)

72. Frankie Sinatra — extended mix (The Avalanches)

73. Lazy Eye (Silversun Pickups)

74. Somebody That I Used To Know (Gotye)

75. Monsters Ball (Hilltop Hoods)

76. No One Knows Queens Of The Stone Age)

77. The Most Vicious Crime (Sparta)

78. True Tears Of Joy (Hunters & Collectors)

79. Lost Control (Grinspoon)

80. The Boys Light Up (Australian crawl)

81. With You (The Subways)

82. Let You Go (The Sunnyboys)

83. In Bloom (Nirvana)

84. Who Do You Love? (2Pac)

85. Take It Where You Find It (Van Morrison)

86. I’m Goin’ Down (Bruce Springsteen)

87. Paranoid (Black Sabbath)

88. Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters (Elton John)

89. (He’ll Never Be An) Ol’ Man River (TISM)

90. Kids (MGMT)

91. Behind The Wall (Tracy Chapman)

92. Shark Fin Blues (The Drones)

93. Chan Chan (Buena Vista Social Club)

94. Come Down (Anderson. Paak)

95. Friday On My Mind (The Easybeats)

96. Video Games (Lana Del Ray)

97. Sober (Pink)

98. Lose Yourself (Eminem)

99. Right Here, Right Now (Fatboy Slim)

100. Out The Window (Confidence Man)