In June 2012 in the lead up to the last ACT election MLA Andrew Barr announced the Labor party were committed to delivering a Cinema in Gungahlin. This commitment was from a lot of community demand for this type of development in Gungahlin.
The Government identified Block 1, Section 12 Gungahlin for release for this purpose – a site bounded by Hibberson, Hinder, Kate Crace and Efkarpidis Streets, which is within the main shopping and entertainment precincts of Gungahlin. It was noted this development would be a mixed use development with the main component being a cinema.
With a total capacity for more than 2,000 patrons, two of the cinemas will each a have seating of around 500 and the remaining five will have approximately 200 seats each.
In addition to the cinema complex, the development will also include 4,300 square metres for a major retailer, 1450 square metres for other retail businesses, 1500 square metres of commercial space and three residential floors of approximately 86 one and two bedroom apartments.
In February 2013 MLA Andrew Barr advised that Expressions of Interest (EOI) had been released to the market and this closed in November 2012. From this process successful applicants would be invited to be involved in a Request for Tender (RFT) process. We were advised the Request for Tender (RFT) was to be issued in June 2013 to three successful respondents from the Expression of Interest process. Through this process local company Krnc Group was selected to develop this site.
Throughout the updates provided by the ACT Government it was said that development was expected to commence in mid 2014 and it anticipated that the cinema would be open late 2016. Since November 2013 there has been very little in the way of information and no construction commenced on the site.
Noting the lack of development and lack of updates we have sought updates from both the ACT Government and Krnc Group. There has also been no official announcement of which operator will run the cinema since November 2013 when MLA Andrew Barr announced Greater Union was in discussions with Krnc Group. Due to the delay in construction I have concerns over the opening actually happening in 2016 has previously announced. There has been no information provided as to what the delay has been.
The latest update we have received this week is that an official announcement for the cinema operator is expected to be made by the end of the year and as part of this announcement the completion date will also be announced. Like most Gungahlin residents we are keen to see this development start so we can enjoy our cinema sooner rather than later!
Loading ...
