In light of the recent announcement that Dendy Cinema Canberra Centre is seeking to add additional screens to their cinema I felt it necessary to find out the latest on the proposed cinema for Gungahlin.
I also questioned why the sign that had been in place for many years on the block to be developed had been removed recently. This is the response received:The Government is committed to developing the Gungahlin Town Centre and region, including a cinema complex.
While it is not the business of Government to build or own cinemas, we have sold a block of land for that purpose. The final settlement date for that sale has changed a number of times since negotiations were finalised in December 2014.
The Government is frustrated with the time taken to reach settlement, and has been enforcing a financial penalty on the developer for the delay. The Government is considering options to reinvest these penalties back into the Gungahlin community.
The final date for settlement is 30 October 2015 and the LDA is working towards settlement by that date. The future development sign was removed in August in anticipation of settlement.
Settlement was meant to have occurred earlier this year with extensions granted to the developer. We were told in July that they had up until the end of July to finalise the contract which did not occur. The latest advice is now saying the absolute deadline is the end of October.
We have been unable to find out once settlement has occurred how long the developer then has to commence and complete the development.
In September 2012 in the lead up to the election the ACT Government called on expressions of interest for the development of a mixed use indoor entertainment facility, which included a cinema complex within the Gungahlin Town Centre.
The Government identified Block 1, Section 12 Gungahlin for release for this purpose – a site bounded by Hibberson, Hinder, Kate Crace and Efkarpidis Streets.
The request for expressions of interest closed in November 2012. Successful applicants from that process were then invited to participate in a Request for Tender (RFT) in early 2013. It was expected the successful applicant was to be announced in June 2013 and development on the complex to commence in late 2014. In June 2013 we were informed the RFT was issued to three successful respondents from the Expression of Interest Process. The RFT was to close in August 2013 with the preferred tenderer announced in September 2013. We were informed the delay in release of the RFT was due to further detailed site investigations. At this time were were also told development of the complex would still commence in 2014 and the cinema to open in late 2016.
In November 2013 it was announced the preferred tenderer would be local developers Krnc Group. It was also confirmed the complex would have seven screens, 2 large capacity theatres and 5 smaller theatres. The development would also have a mix of retail, commercial and residential.
Contracts were exchanged between Land Development Agency and Krnc Group in December 2014 and settlement originally planned for April 2015.
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