Performing Arts Centre: council votes on old Broadwater Hotel site
THE debate over the location of the Regional Performing Arts Centre has been a hot topic for years, and now the council has settled on a site with a completion date of 2020.
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THE old Broadwater Hotel site is set to be the location of the Regional Performing Arts Centre.
Central Coast Council voted on 51-71 Mann St as the preferred site for the RPAC at an extraordinary meeting in Wyong last night.
The council was under the pump to make a decision, with just five days to submit a business case to the State Government or risk losing $12 million in funding.
Mayor Jane Smith said building the RPAC in the city centre would “stimulate activity” throughout Gosford. Councillors also voted to look at a cultural precinct comprising of the RPAC and the Gosford Regional Library.
Deputy Mayor Chris Holstein disagreed and put forward a case for Poppy Park as a location for the RPAC to revitalise the waterfront.
“It’s a more common sense attitude to further advance the waterfront revitalisation,” he said.
“I think you have got it wrong. I think you are doing what’s quick and easy.”
Cr Smith said the waterfront site came up a few years ago and was controversial among the community in terms of building around it.
“I’m very keen and supportive of the revitalisation of Gosford City Centre,” she said. “I don’t believe putting RPAC on the waterfront achieves that.”
The council has $32 million committed to the RPAC, which has a projected cost of $66 million on the Mann St site owned by the council.
The facility will feature a 950-1000 seated auditorium, fly tower, orchestra pit, studio for smaller performances and 450 car parking spaces.
The council will now report back to government funding bodies, and seek consent from the Central Coast Conservatorium of Music. The Conservatorium recently released its own vision and design for the RPAC behind its current premises at 45 Mann Street.
Construction is scheduled to start in January 2019 and take 18 months to build with a proposed opening to take place in the second half of 2020.