Sydney Showground has plans for a $70 million makeover including a theatre and accommodation

THE Sydney Showground is set for a multi-million dollar makeover including a state-of-the-art performing arts centre topped by towers of accommodation.

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THE Sydney Showground is set to get a multi-million dollar makeover including a state-of-the-art performing arts centre topped by towers of accommodation.

The project is expected to cost about $70 million and hopes to attract State Government funding.

If it gets the green light, it will be the first time accommodation has been developed inside the perimeter of the showgrounds.

The ambitious plan by the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW, which manages the precinct, is designed to expand the group’s convention trade as well as attract entertainment acts on an “Enmore Theatre-style” scale.

The Concourse at Chatswood's Civic Place could be a model for the Sydney Showground’s new theatre.

A RAS spokesman confirmed a major development was in the pipeline but said plans were being finalised.

The Sydney Olympic Park Authority supports the plans in principle.

A spokesman said the authority was aware of the RAS’s plans to develop the site and was looking forward to seeing more detailed plans when they were available.

It will sit across from the newly named Qudos Bank Arena, formerly Allphones, which has the capacity to attract crowds of 20,000 for international musicians, and ANZ Stadium which can house up to 80,000 at a sold-out football game.

The new performing arts centre would seat several thousand to attract intimate music concerts, plays and offer greater flexibility for conferences, which are needed to kept the precinct alive all year round.

A new development at the Sydney Showground is expected to include an “Enmore Theatre-style” venue.

The RAS’s main event is the Royal Easter Show, which runs for 10 days.

The Sydney Showground precinct is located next to the stadiums precinct and is defined by Olympic Boulevard, Murray Rose Avenue, Australia Avenue and Kevin Coombs Avenue.

The Sydney Olympic Park Master Plan describes the showgrounds as a ‘discrete entity that is characterised by exhibition pavilions surrounding the main show ring’.

It says the site allows for further expansion of its exhibition, conference and convention facilities as well as agricultural, education and entertainment adjacent to Cathy Freeman Park.