The Dream Is Over: Palace Theatre To Be Turned Into Retail Space

The push to save Melbourne's century-old former music venue the Palace Theatre has received another, potentially fatal, blow, after news emerged that site owners Jinshan Investments had received clearance to strip out the theatre to make way for new retail space.

As Fairfax reports, the new plans to refurbish the front of the building — though keep the facade intact, which also angered protesters — were announced on Thursday, with Matthew Mattiske, of project managers Sinclair Brook, confirming that permits had been received by Jinshan Investments.

During the week, council enforcement officers had been called to "investigate reports of skips of material being removed from the building", but were unable to obtain sufficient evidence to then seek entry to the premises.

In addition to the planned retail space, Jinshan has revised its original plans to build a seven-storey hotel on the site, having raised that figure to 12 storeys in their new submission to the Victorian Civil and Administration Tribunal.

The fight to determine the fate of the Palace Theatre has been going on for more than a year, with the skips of apparently authorised construction detritus this week (which local restaurateur Adam Jacks told Fairfax "did seem like plastering and that sort of stuff they were taking away")  recalling the controversy over unauthorised interior demolition of the venue late last year; efforts to halt the damage came too late to prevent the venue from being deemed "not worth saving".