St Kilda Could Be Receiving A New 5000-Cap Music Venue

A new multi-function 5,000-capacity music venue has been proposed for the St Kilda area by the Port Phillip Council, with annotated illustrations made available for the St Kilda Triangle site.

On Wednesday, 6 September, the Port Phillip Council will meet to discuss the potential music venue. The new venue proposal arrives as St Kilda has been named Victoria’s first Live Music Precinct.

The Live Music Precinct echoes the Special Entertainment Precincts found in Queensland and New South Wales, most notably in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley.

The existence of an LMP in Victoria provides a framework to support changes required designed to balance the needs of venues, performers and residents in a growing suburb. Community consultation will continue to be undertaken as the project progresses.  

As the image shows, the proposed site is right next to the Palais Theatre and, essentially, fills the gap in Melbourne for a purpose-built indoor live music and performance venue for up to 5,000 patrons. It also contains an outdoor space, crucial for its multi-functionality.

“We’ve spoken to music industry experts from venues and promoters to performers to gauge the feasibility of this creative concept, and they say it would help address a critical shortage of medium-large live music spaces,” Mayor Heather Cunsolo said in a statement. “We now need to hear what our community thinks before deciding whether to progress this plan for the Triangle to play an even bigger role in St Kilda’s live music scene.”

Cunsolo added, “This concept is also about providing beautiful, well-designed outdoor space for locals and visitors which complements the much-loved ‘slopes’ and provides a pedestrian connection to the foreshore.”

The St Kilda Triangle site proposes elevated terraces, balconies and rooftops for a “balcony to the bay” experience.

The venue, if approved, will respect the history of venues such as The Palace. If the Port Phillip Council decides to go on with community consultation following next week’s meeting, the conversations will last from 7 September to 19 October. A report surrounding the consultation process will follow later this year to decide what comes next.

Mushroom Group CEO Matt Gudinski added, “It was such a shame to lose The Palace, a Melbourne live music institution for so many years. The concept of building a new purpose-built venue at the site has long been discussed and would be great news for St Kilda and our entire local music scene.

“We have a thriving community of homegrown artists and amazing venues across our state. To ensure our local scene remains as strong as ever, we need to be constantly developing quality, new venues for Victoria to retain its status as the live music capital of Australia.”